GIFT  OF 


THE 


Struggle  For  Existence 


BY 


WALTER  THOMAS  MILLS,  A.  M. 


"Move  upward,  working  out  the  beast,  and  let  the  ape  and  tigerdie." — Tennyson: 
In  Memoriam,  cxvili. 

"It  Is  well  if  the  mass  of  mankind  will  obey  the  laws  when  made  without  scrutiniz- 
ing too  nicely  into  the  reasons  for  making  them."— Blackstone:  Commentaries  on  the 
Laws  of  England,  Book  II.,  Ch.  I. 

"The  starting  point  of  the  development  that  gave  rise  to  the  wage-laborer  as  well  as 
to  the  capitalist  was  the  servitude  of  the  laborer."— Marx:  Capital,  p.  739. 

"Since  the  advent  of  civilization,  the  outgrowth  of  property  has  been  so  Immense 
*  *  *  that  it  has  become,  on  the  part  of  the  people,  an  unmanageable  power  *  *  * 
The  time  will  come,  nevertheless,  when  human  intelligence  will  rise  to  the  mastery  over 
property,  and  define  the  relations  of  the  state  to  the  property  it  protects,  as  well  as  the 
obligations  and  the  limits  of  the  rights  of  its  owners."— Morgan:  Ancient  Society,  p.  662. 


INTERNATIONAL    SCHOOL    OF    SOCIAL    ECONOMY 

CHICAGO,  ILL. 


•74,* 


COPYRIGHT,  1904,  BY  HILDA  F.   MILLS 


COPYRIGHT,   1904, 

BY    HILDA    F.    MILLS 

UNITED    STATES   AND   ENGLAND 

MAY 
ALL  RIGHTS   RESERVED. 


Published    Simultaneously    in    United 

States    and    England    May 

28,  1904. 


Walter  Thomas  Mills,  Editor 


TO  THE  GREAT  MULTITUDE 

OF  THOSE  WHO-  ARE  STRUGGLING  FOR  EXISTENCE 
THIS  VOLUME  IS  OFFERED  BY  ONE  OF  THE  STRUG- 
GLERS.  BUT  FIRST  OF  ALL,  AND  ABOVE  ALL  OTHERS, 
IT  IS  GIVEN  TO  THE  WOMAN  WHOSE  DEVOTION  TO 
THE  UPWARD  STRUGGLE,  WHOSE  PERSONAL  SACRI- 
FICE AND  WHOSE  CONSTANT  ASSISTANCE  HAS  MADE 
THIS  WRITING  AND  ITS  PUBLIQATION  POSSIBLE — 

TO  MY  WIFE,  HILDA  F.  MILLS 


PREFACE 

In  the  preparation  of  this  book  it  has  been  my  wish 
to  help  those  who  are  trying  to  help  others  in  the  long 
warfare  against  oppression  and  so  to  have  some  share 
in  helping  to  make  a  speedy  and  peaceful  transition 
from  the  outworn  social  forms,  by  which  we  are  sur- 
rounded and  of  which  we  are  the  victims,  to  the  next 
order  of  things,  in  the  long  ascent  of  the  universal  life 
of  which  I  am  a  part. 

I  wish  it  were  possible  to  mention  by  name  many  of 
those  who  have  helped  me  among  the  more  than  three 
thousand  of  my  students  and  comrades  who  have 
studied  and  criticised  large  portions  of  these  discus- 
sions in  advance  sheets.  It  had  been  my  purpose  to  do 
so,  but  the  number  has  so  outgrown  all  expectations  in 
that  particular  as  to  make  it  entirely  impracticable. 
They  are  found  in  every  state  in  the  Union,  in  all  the 
provinces  of  Canada,  in  England  and  on  the  Continent, 
in  India,  Japan,  New  Zealand,  Australia,  the  Philip- 
pines, Hawaii,  Alaska,  Mexico  and  Cuba.  Their  in- 
quiries, suggestions  and  encouragement  and,  finally, 
their  assistance  in  publishing  this  volume,  have  placed 
me  under  lasting  obligations  to  them  all. 

WALTER  THOMAS  MILLS 

Eosedale,  Kans.,  Dec.  1,  1903. 


AN  OUTLINE 


CHAP. 

PART   I         f    1.     Capitalism  and  Socialism.  £-> 
2.     First  Principles. 
Primitive  Life. 

Order  of  Primitive  Progress. 
Summary. 

Slavery. 

Serfdom. 

The  Wage  System. 

The  Era  of  Invention. 

The  Trust  and  the  World  Market. 

The  Collapse  of  Capitalism. 

Summary. 

Collectivism,  Democracy  and  Equality. 

Same — Continued. 

The  Ownership  of  the  Earth. 

Religious  and  Political  Democracies. 

Modern  Science  and  Socialism. 

Machine  Production. 

Utopias  and  Co-operative  Society.!^ 

Growth  of  Sense  of  Solidarity. 

The  Irrepressible  Conflict. 

Collapse  of  Capitalism,  the  Triumph  of  Socialism. 

The  Purposes  of  the  State. 
Assumptions  in  Economics. 
Theories  of  Value. 
The  Money  Question. 
Theories  of  Population. 
Rent,  Interest  and  Profit. 

The  Fine  Arts  and  Socialism. 
Religion  and  Socialism. 
Education  and  Socialism. 
The  Farmer  and  Socialism. 
The  Middle  Class  and  Socialism.  ./ 

The  Trust,  Imperialism  and  Socialism.*^ 
Labor  Unions  and  Socialism. 
Municipal  Misrule  and  Socialism. 
Unjust  Taxation  and  Socialism. 
Public  Ownership  and  Socialism. 
Civil  Service  and  Socialism. 
Status  of  Women  and  Socialism. 
The  Race  Problem  and  Socialism. 
The  Traffic  in  Vice  and  Socialism. 
Charity  Organizations  and  Socialism. 

The  Nature  of  a  Political  Party. 

The  Socialist  Party. 

A  Question  Box. 

How  to  Work  for  Socialism. 

The  Final  Summary. 


CLEARING       •{     3. 

THE                      4. 

GROUND       I    5. 

r  6- 

PART  II 

7. 

8. 

EVOLUTION 

9. 

w 

OF 

CAPITALISM 

10. 
11. 

U 

I  12. 

£' 

'  13. 

W 

14. 

H 

PART  III 

15. 

CO 

16. 

EVOLUTION 

17. 
18. 

W 

OF 

10. 

SOCIALISM 

20. 

« 

21. 
22. 

0 

PART    IV      |  04'. 

w 

QUESTIONS      •{  ^Q' 

^1 

OF 

O 

CONTROVERSY    [  28. 

O 

29. 

*""! 

30. 

B 

31. 

H 

33! 

CO 

PART  V 

34. 

35. 

w 

CURRENT      J 

36. 

X 

PROBLEMS 

37. 
38 

H 

39! 

40. 

41. 

42. 

43. 

PART  VI        f  44. 

45. 

ORGANIZATION  •{  46. 

AND                      47. 

CONTENTS 

PART    I 
CLEARING  THE  GROUND 


CHAPTER     I 

CAPITALISM    AND    SOCIALISM 

The  Means  of  Life— Their  Sources-^Monopoly— Tyranny— Inequality— No  Legal 
Right  to  Life— Inherited  Mastery  and  Servitude— Collectivism— Democracy— Equal- 
ity—Under  Socialism— Summary. 

CHAPTER    II 

FIRST  PRINCIPLES 

In  the  Beginning — The  Struggle  for  Existence — The  Collective  Struggle — Con- 
stant Changes  and  Survivals— The  Higher  from  the  Lower  Forms— Argument  for 
th«  Theory  of  Development — The  Human  Embryo — Rudimentary  Survivals — The 
Record  of  the  Rocks— The  Time  Required — Confirmation  by  the  Astronomers- 
Conclusions — Summary. 

CHAPTER    III 

PRZMITTVB   LIFE 

Savagery,  Barbarism  and  Civilization— The  Order  of  Development— Object  Les- 
sons in  History— Primitive  Man  Not  Helpless— The  Roots  of  Civilization— The 
Struggle  for  Existence  Fundamental— The  Human  Brain  With  Both  Base  and 
Dome— Higher  Activities  Not  Denied— The  Crucifixion  of  the  Worthiest  and  the 
Survival  of  the  Best  Adapted— Darwin,  Spencer,  Marx— Summary. 

CHAPTER     IV 

THE  ORDER  OF  PRIMITIVE  PROGRESS 

First  Period,  Man  With  Only  His  Inheritance  From  His  Animal  Ancestry- 
Second  Period,  Fire— Third  Period,  Bow  and  Arrow— Fourth  Period,  Pottery— Fiftfc 
Period,  Taming  the  Animals— (Sixth  Period,  Iron — Primitive  Products  and  Inven- 
tions— Barbarian  Expansion — Seventh  Period,  The  Alphabet,  War,  Slavery  and  the 
Class  Struggle— Whence  Slavery— The  Hunter  and  the  Soldier— Robbing  the  Rob- 
bers—Subjection of  Women— Achievements  of  Primitive  Society— Mechanical  An- 
cestry— Brotherhood — Economic  Classes — Slaves  and  Soldiers— Summary. 

CHAPTER    V 

A  SUMMARY   OF  PART^FIRST 


\ 


\ 


10  ; 

PART  II 

THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM 

CHAPTER     VI 

SLAVERY 

Evolution— The  Struggle  for  Land— Tribes  Enslaved— The  Social  and  the  Mili- 
tary—The City,  Politics  and  Militarism— Conquered  Tribes  and  Private  Lands— 
Not  the  Oldest  Form  of  Labor — Traditions — Roman  Law — Primitive  Democracies — 
Old  Words  for  Slave — Primitive  Burials — Indians  Without  Slaves — Negroes  Not 
Originally  In  Slavery— Cruelties— Products  of  Slave  Labor— Slavery  In  the  United 
States— Destroyed  by  War,  Wage  System  Pays  Better— White  Slavery  In  America 
—Selling  Negroes  to  Themselves — The  'Slave  Dealing  North — Slave  Labor  Unprof- 
itable—Wage System  Impossible  Under  Barbarism— Emancipation  Forbidden- 
Summary. 

CHAPTER    VII 

SERFDOM 

Workmen  Born,  Not  Captured— The  Serf's  Home— The  Slave  Market— Ger- 
manio  Tribes  in  Southern  Europe— In  Teutonic  and  Celtic  Countries— Thorold 
Rogers  on  the  Fifteenth  Century— Denial  of  Political  Power— Serfdom  In  America 
—Slavery  and  Serfdom— Vice,  Cruelty  and  Greed— The  Masters  Make  the  Change 
to  Serfdom — Transition  Most  Obscure — Slaves  Could  Not — Masters  Did — Summary.. 

CHAPTER    VIII 

THE  WAGE   SYSTEM 

Slavery,  Serfdom  and  the  Wage  System— Industrial  Discipline— The  Struggle 
for  Land  Again — Expansion  Inevitable — Widening  Peaceful  Territory — Jealousies 
—Divine  Right  of  Kings— The  Towns— Better  Roads,  More  Trade— ORobber  Barons- 
Free  Cities— The  Modern  City— The  Growing  Market—  Gun  Powder— Worthless 
Castles,  the  King's  Soldiers— Discharged  Soldiers  and  Evicted  Serfs — The  Wage 
System— The  Class  War— Peddlers,  Merchants  and  Helpless  Workers— New 
Countries— Printing— The  Industrial  Revolt  Against  the  Church— Commerce— Poli- 
tical Economy  and  the  Factory  Towns — Wage  System  Came  by  Choice  of  the 
Masters,  the  Workers  were  Helpless— Could  Have  Had  Slaves— A  Long  Evolution- 
Summary 

CHAPTER    IX 

THE   ERA   OF   INVENTION   AND    THE   INDUSTRIAL   REVOLUTION 

Lands,  Slaves,  Tools — The  Earth  Not  Restored — Arrested  Growth — Slavery  and 
Inventions— Militarism  and  Politics— Culmination  of  Growth  of  Tools,  Organization 
and  Conquest — Machinery — The  Free  Cities,  the  American  Frontier  and  Inventions 
—Industrial  Occupation  and  Inventions— Tools  and  Machines— The  Industrial 
Revolution— The  Organization  of  Industry  and  Inventions— Power  Machinery, 
Connecting  Machinery  and  Machine  Tools — The  Skilled  Worker  and  Machinery — 
The  Displacement  of  Labor — Loss  of  Solidarity — Individual  Deliverance — Workers 
Again  Bound  to  Their  Class— The  Strong  Men,  to  Save  Themselves  Must  Save 
Their  Class— 'Summary. 

CHAPTER    X 

THE  TRUST,  THE  WORLD— MARKET  AND  IMPERIALISM 

Evolution  of  the  Corporation — Victory  of  the  Big  Machines — A  Wider  Market 
—Bankruptcy  and  Consolidation— The  Trust— Consolidation  Without  Bankruptcy— 
The  Trust  at  Work — Closing  Factories — Looking  for  Investments — Economies  of 
the  Trust— Monopoly  and  the  Trust— The  International  Trust— The  World  Market 
The  Trust  at  Work— Closing  Factories— Looking  for  Investments— Economies  of 
Surviving  Factory— International  Strikes  and  Trusts— The  Tariff,  the  Trust  and 
the  Shanghai  Factory— No  Possible  Competitor— Cornered  at  Last— Imperialism- 
Choosing  a  Flag  to  Starve  Under — Imperialism,  Militarism,  Expansion,  Capital- 
ism—Summary. 

CHAPTER    XI 

THE   COLLAPSE   OF    CAPITALISM; 

The  Culmination— Surplus  Products — The  Foreign  Market— Losing  the  Market — 
Purchasing  Power — Commercial  Suicide — The  Collapse — The  Bankrupt  Trusts- 
Played  to  a  Finish — Compulsory  Idleness — The  Class  War — Benevolent  Feudalism 
— Inner  Circle  Unable  to  Keep  the  Peace,  Disguise  Its  Crimea  or  Defend  Itself— 
Summary. 

CHAPTER    XII 

A  SUMMARY  OF  PART  SECOND 


11 

PART    III 

THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM 


CHAPTER     XIII 

COLLECTIVISM,    DEMOCRACY    AND    EQUALITY 

Capitalism  Not  the  Invention  of  Capitalists— Socialism  Not  the  Invention  of 
Socialists — Underlying-  Principles — Inherent  in  the  Nature  of  Things — In  Care  of 
Young— In  Primitive  Groups — In  the  Nations — In  Business — Democracy — In  an 
Organism — In  Reproduction — Unanimous  Agreement — Democratic  Armies — Col- 
lectivism and  Democracy— Equality— Primitive  Equality— The  Just  Powers  of 
Government— The  Concern  of  All— Summary. 

CHAPTER    XIV 

COLLECTIVISM,    DEMOCRACY    AND    EQUALITY— (Continued). 
Things    in    Common1— Village    Communities— Slave    Associations — Ancient    Trade 
Unions— The   Early   Church— The    Free    Cities— Fraternal    Societies— Modern    Labor 
Unions— Working    Class    iSolidarity— Monopoly— The    Whole    is    Greater    Than    Any 
of  Its  Ports— Sanitary  Conditions— Conclusions— Summary. 

CHAPTER    XV 

COLLECTIVISM!  IN  THE  OWNERSHIP  OF  THE  ElARTH 
Belongs  to  Man— Belongs  to  All  Men— Biblical  Authority—  The  Scientific  De- 
fense— The  Monopolist  and  Nature — The  Beginning — The  Forming  of  the  Planets 
— The  Making  of  the  Earth's  Surface — The  Beginning  and  the  Ending — Not  a 
Question  of  Intentions — Evolution — Pre-conscious  Development — The  Right  of  the 
Most  Conscious— Man  and  the  Rest  of  Nature— The  Earth  and  Man— The  Plant 
and  Its  Flower — Mutual  Adaptation — Monopoly  and  Collectivism — Private  Titles 
Based  on  Force — The  Evil  of  Monopoly — Inherent  in  the  Nature  of  Things — Sum- 

CHAPTER    XVI 

(RELIGIOUS   AND   POLITICAL    DEMOCRACIES 

The  Fall  of  Democracy— The  Struggle  for  Democracy— Political  Democracies 
Among  Industrial  Masters— The  Early  Church— Ecclesiastical  Rebels— Calvinistic 
Churches — The  Windsor  Constitution— American  Industrial  and  Political  Dem- 
ocracy— Lincoln  on  Labor  and  Capital— The  Populist  Party— A  Shop  Without  a 
Boss — The  Plutocrat,  the  Democrat  and  Socialism — Summary. 

CHAPTER    XVII 

MODERN   SCIENCE   AND   SOCIALISM 

•Modern  Science — The  Wickedntess  of  Growth — Old  ^Records — Recent  Investiga- 
tions—Law of  Social  Growth— The  Social  Compact— Taken  for  Granted— "Abroga- 
tion of  Contracts"— New  Life  Must  Abrogate  Old  Forms— Science  the  Shackle 
Breaker — Science  and  Inventions — In  Manufactures — In  Agriculture — Gi-owing 
Toward  Socialism— Sanitary  Science— Science  and  Crime— Uncultivated  Fruits- 
Uncultivated  Grains— Uncultivated  Men— Conscious  Selection  and  Socialism- 
Summary. 

CHAPTER    XVIII 

MACHINE    PRODUCTION    AND    COLLECTIVISM 

Aristotle  on  Machinery— Joint  Ownership  and  Use — Co-operation  Necessary- 
Drudgery  Unnecessary — Machinery  and  the  World  Market — Concentration  and 
Private  Ownership— Easy  Transition  to  Collective  Ownership— A  Hired  Manage- 
ment—Beginnings of  Future  Forms  of  Organization— Industrial  Departments  in 
the  Government — Labor  Organizations  and  the  Departments — Labor  Organizations 
and  Political  Power — Transforming  the  Government — The  Evolution  of  Socialism — 
Summary. 

CHAPTER    XIX 

UTOPIAS,       COLONIES,       CO-OPERATIVE       SOCIETIES       AND      SCIENTIFIC 

SOCIALISM 

Dreams  Which  'Nations  Dream— Ancestry—  Communism  and  Socialism- 
Primeval  Survivals — A  New  Defense  for  Old  Proposals — Before  the  Doctrine  of 
Evolution— On  a  Small  :Scale— Service  of  the  Utopians— Benefits  of  Co-operation- 
Co-operative  Stores— Co-operative  Communities— Chances  for  Unity— Waiting  tor 
Returns— Under  Suspicion — Enmity  of  the  Courts — Bishop  Hill — Ruskin  Colony— 


12 

Greatest  Enterprises  Out  of  Reach— An  Unequal  Battle— World-Wide  Conflict- 
Co-operative  Organization  a  Public  Function— ^Socialists  and  Co-operators— All 
Corporations  Perform  Public  Functions— A  Township  Against  a  Continent— The 
Evolution  of  Socialism— Summary. 

CHAPTER    XX 

THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  SENSE  OF  SOLIDARITY  OF  THE  .RACE 
Tribal  Solidarity— iA  Completer  Individuality — Primitive  Ignorance  of  Earth 
and  Man — World  Conquest  and  Race  Solidarity — The  Great  Religions — Into 
All  Nations  to  Trade  With  Them— Modern  Industry— Vital  Race  Relationships— The 
Warm  Blood  Current  of  the  Race  Life — United  Testimony  of  the  Sciences— The 
Poets  and  Prophets — Industry  and  Politics  Must  Develop  with  the  Race  Life — 
Highest  Incentive  to  Action — Capitalism  Outgrown — Socialism  and  Solidarity— 
Capitalism  the  Builder  of  Socialism — Summary. 

CHAPTER    XXI 

THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 

The  Economic  Classes — Fixing  the  Class  Lines — All  Wars,  Class  Wars — 
Conflicts  Between  the  Exploiters — Ruling  Classes  and  Prevailing  Morals — Thd 
Evolution  of  the  Class  Struggle— Conflicting  Economic  Interests— Class  Con- 
sciousness—The Irrepressible  Warfare— The  Evolution  of  Socialism— Summary. 

CHAPTER    XXII 

THE  COLLAPSE  OF  CAPITALISM  AND  THE  TRIUMPH  OF  SOCIALISM; 
The  Inevitable  Collapse— If  Capitalism  Remains— Need  Not  Remain— Failure 
of  Incentive  Under  Capitalism— Producing  for  the  Products— Filling-  the  Store- 
house with  Leisure  for  All — End  of  Monopoly,  Tyranny  and  Inequality — Conclu- 
sions—Summary. 


PART   IV 

SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  BETWEEN 
CAPITALISTS  AND  SOCIALISTS 


CHAPTER    XXIII 

FOR)  WHAT  PURPOSES  MAY  THE  STATE  EXIST 

The  Struggle  to  Survive — Government  a  Factor  in  the  Struggle  to  Survive — 
Self  Preservation— The  Social  Struggle— The  Abuse  of  Power— Class  Rule  and 
Self-Government — Public  Powers  Controlled  to  be  Abused — The  Government  and 
Business  Enterprises— Industrial  and  Political  Self-Government—Socialism  and 

the    Government — Socialism    Will    Deliver   the    State    from    the    Hands   of    Its    Foes 

Do  Socialists  Propose  the  Abuse   of  Public  Power— Individuality  Established  and 
Defended    Under    Socialism— The    End    of    the    Oppressor— Summary. 

CHAPTER    XXIV 

ASSUMPTIONS   IN  ECONOMICS 

The  Economists — The  English  School — The  Historical  School — "The  Dismal 
Science"— The  Field  of  Study— May  Learn  the  Next  Step— Is  Capitalism  Natural 
—Capitalism  of  Recent  Origin— The  Origin  of  Capital— Walker's  Account— Theories 
Facing  Facts— John  Stuart  Mill  and  the  Duke  of  Argyll—  War  the  Origin  of  Capital 
—The  Right  to  Buy  and  Sell— Labor  a  Commodity— Self  Interest— Economic 
justice — Letting  Things  Alone — "The  Iron  Law  of  Wages" — Summary. 

CHAPTER    XXV 

THEORIES  OF  VALUE 

The  Exhange  of  Products— Power  in  Exchange— The  Economists  and  Socialism 
—All  Theories  Lead  to  Socialism— Theories  of  Value— Utility-HScarcity— Difficulty 
of  Attainment — "Competitive  and  Socialistic"— Labor  and  the  Produce  of  Labor — 
Marginal  Utility— Labor  and  Machinery— Justifying  Exploitation— iSlipply  and 
Demand— 'Service  for  Service— Monopoly  and  Value— Theft  Not  Exchange— Who, 
Not  What,  Produces  Value— The  Share  of  Nature— Machinery— Human  Energy 
and  the  Landlord,  the  Capitalist  and  the  Laborer— The  Record!  of  Tyranny- 
Summary. 


13 

CHAPTER    XXVI 

JUSTICE  IN  EXCHANGE    (THE  MONEY    QUESTION) 

The  Origin  of  Money— The  Necessity  for  Money— Not  at  First  the  Creation 
)f  Law — Earliest  Forms  of  Money — Necessary  Qualities — Its  Functions — A  Medium 
3f  Exchange— A  Measure  of  Value— Value— A  Common  Quality  of  All  Goods— 
Applying  the  Measure— Both  Medium  and  Measure— A  Standard  for  Deferred 
Payments — Debtor  and  Creditor — The  Relation  Between  Other  things  and  Dol- 
lars—Bank Made  Money— The  Multiple  Standard— No  Solution  Under  Capitalism— 
Summary. 

CHAPTER    XXVII 

THEORIES  OF  POPULATION 

The  Law  of  Increase — The  Struggle  to  Exist — Limited  Powers  of  Production— 
fncreaslng  and  Diminishing  Returns — When  the  Last  Acre  Is  In  Use — In  the 
Year  2400— The  Gloomiest  Page  in  Economics — An  Old  Problem — Absurd  Proposals 
to  Limit  Population— A  Knowledge  of  Natural  Causes— Over  Population  Unneces- 
sary—Safe Conditions  Impossible  under  Capitalism— Forbidding  the  Poor  to 
Marry— Genius  and  the  Poor— Giving  the  World  to  the  Backward  Races- 
Capitalism  Unable  to  Use  the  Eiarth — Unable  to  Develop  Its  Resources — Pestilence 
and  Famine  No  Relief— Socialism  and  the  Causes  of  Over  Population— Maternal 
Distress— Over  Work  and  Mental  Neglect— Self-Control— (Can  Use  the  Earth- 
Hake  the  Desert  Blossom — The  Unwelcome  Child. 

CHAPTER    XXVIII 

RENT,  INTEREST  AND  PROFIT 

The  Joint  Producers— The  Landlord— The  Capitalist— The  Manager— The 
Laborer — The  Division  of  Products — What  is  Rent — The  Single  Tax — Fixed  Im- 
provements— Land  Titles  and  Other  Property — Socialists  and  the  Single  Tax — 
Unearned  Benefits— Who  Pays  the  Rent— No  Escape— The  Appeal  to  Conscience— 
"Indemnification"  for  "Unearned  Benefits"— Buying  One's  Own  Birthright- 
Services  and  Limitations  of  the  Single  Tax— Thrift,  .Saving  and  Interest— Risk- 
Share  of  the  'Profits — Profit  and  Superintendence— The  Skillfully  Managed1— The 
Laborer's  Right  Unstated— The  Real  Question— The  Answer— The  Prison  House 
of  Toil— The  Way  Out  is  Socialism. 


PART  V 
CURRENT  PROBLEMS  OF  PUBLIC  INTEREST  AND  SOCIALISM 

CHAPTER    XXIX 

PINE   ARTS  AND  SOCIALISM. 

What  Is  Art — The  Industrial  and  the  Fine  Arts— Word  'Pictures  and  Oratory — 
Form  and  Color— Life,  Love  and  Art— Joy  of  Life  the  Source  of  Art— Capitalism 
Cuts  Off  the  Sources  of  Art— Loss  of  Leisure— "Worn  Out"— Deaf  and  Blind- 
Patronage  and  Monopoly — Natural  Beauty  and  Commercial  Ugliness — Never  Seeing 
the  World — Art  is  Social— The  Art  Gallery  and  the  Market  Place— Art  and  the 
Fashion  Plates— Wrecking  the  Masterpiece— Capitalism  Doing  Its  Best— Strength 
and  Beauty— tAj-tists  Are  Socialists— 'Summary. 

CHAPTER    XXX 

RELIGION   AND   SOCIALISM! 

The  Thinking  Animal— Oldest  Instincts— Moving  and  Motionless— Living  and 
Dead— The  Breath  of  Life— The  Origin  of  Worship— Fetishism,  the  Worship  of 
Things — Polytheism,  or  Many  Masters  of  Groups  of  Things — One  Good  and  One 
Bvll  Spirit,  Masters  of  All— Common  Grounds  of  Scholarship  of  All  Creeds- 
Evolution  of  Religion — Beginnings  of  Organization — Cannibalism — The  Families  of 
Gods — The  Gods  of  War — Religion  and  Slavery — The  Jews,  the  Romans  and  the 
Tribal  Gods— The  One  Military  Master  and  the  One  God^-The  Ancient  Priesthood 
— The  Law  of  Growth — Great  Services  of  the  Church — The  Unity  of  All  Nature — 
The  Highest  Religion— The  Order  of  Advance— Capitalism  and  Religion  and  the 
Right  to  Think— The  Mastery  of  Wealth— The  Religious  Teacher  and  His  Training 
—Work  and  Worship— The  Slaughter  of  Intelligence— Socialism!  and  Religion- 
Religious  Convictions  a  Private  Matter— Brotherhoodi-Supporting1  the  Church— 
Boundless  Opportunity  Under  Socialism— Summary. 


14 
CHAPTER    XXXI 

EDUCATION  AND  SOCIALISM 

The  Old  Education — The  Business  Education — The  New  (Education—A.  Better 
Market  or  a  Better  Life — Breaking  With  Ideals  to  Hold  Employment — The  Clash 
between  the  .Market  and  the  Schools — Training  Masters  and  Servants— Corrupt- 
ing the  Schools — Falsifying  Text  Books — The  Factory  Child  and  the  Public 
Schools — Labor  and  Learning — The  Hired  Boss  and  His  Neglected  Learning — 
Socialism  and  Learning— The  Workshop  and  the  School — The  Ideals  of  the 
Schools  and  the  Tasks  of  Real  Life— Summary. 

CHAPTER    XXXII 

THE    FARMER   AND    SOCIALISM 

Untaken  Land— America  Before  the  Civil  War— The  Disappearing  Wage 
Worker— Independent  Self -Support— iSelf-Employed— No  Inheritance  of  Dependence— 
Under  the  Yoke — Loss  of  Independence — Occupation  of  the  Land — Machinery — The 
Narrowing  Process — Specialization  in  Farming — The  Small  Farm — Salaried  Super- 
intendents— Why  Half  a  Farm — Millionaire  Ranchmen — Surrender  for  Lack  of 
Outlet — The  Surplus  Farmer's  Boy — "Middle  Class"  Farmers — The  Largest  Group 
of  the  Working  Class— The  Agricultural  Working  Class— A  Bare  Existence- 
Public  Ownership — 'Public  'Loans — Farmer  and  Capitalist — Socialism  and  the 
Farmer— The  Farmer's!  Family— JEnlarging  Life  and  Restoring1  Liberty— The 
Way  Out — Summary. 

CHAPTER    XXXIII 

THE  MIDDLE  CLASS  AND  SOCIALISM 

The  Middle  Class— The  Subject  Stated— Numbers  of  the  Various  Classes- 
Economic  Classes  and  Political  Parties— Socialists  and  the  Working  Class- 
Middle  Class  Measures — Only  Two  Parties  Possible — Economic  Interests  both 
Ways— lActing  with  the  Capitalists— Acting  with  the  Working  Class— Small 
Properties— Exploitation  at  the  Shop  Door— The  Millionaire— ^Emptiness  of  the 
Master's  Life— The^Riddle  of  the  Middle  Class— The  Sifting  of  the  Wheat— A 
Call  to  Workers  Only— Summary. 

CHAPTER    XXXIV 

THE  TRUST,    IMPERIALISM   AND   SOCIAlLXSM 

The  Evolution  of  the  Trust — The  Problem  and  the  Solution  Proposed — Pub- 
licity— Government  Control — Limiting  Industrial  Organization — The  Tariff  and 
the  Trust— National  Collective  Ownership— Completing  the  Social  Revolution— 
A  Resistless  Current— Universal  War— The  Motive  for  Action— One  World  Military 
Power — The  Family  of  Nations — One  World  Commercial  Power — Military  and 
Commercial  Imperialism — Industrial  Democracy — Summary. 

CHAPTER    XXXV 

LABOR    UNIONS    AND    SOCIALISM 

Medieval  Towns— The  Guilds— The  Wage  System— Labor  Organizations- 
Great  Service  of  the  Unions— Labor  Organizations— London  Working  Men— Fall  of 
the  Bastlle — American  Revolution — In  the  Civil  War— Story  of  the  Class  Struggle 
— The  Old  Unionism — The  Hopeless  Beginning — A  World  Movement — Unionism  and 
Socialism — Scope  of  Service — The  Schools  and  the  Unions — Socialism  and  Unionism 
—Shorter  Hours— Increased  Rewards—  Employment  for  All— International  Competi- 
tion of  the  Workers— Industrial  Organization— Must  Administer  the  Government 
—In  Politics— Endorsing  Candidates— The  Shop  Door  and  the  Ballot  Box— Union 
Not  a  Political  Party — A  Working  Program— Summary. 

CHAPTER    XXXVI 

MUNICIPAL   MISRULE   AND   SOCIALISM 

Majority  Always  for  Good  Government— Both  Parties  Alike  in  City  Rule- 
Corrupt  Social  Forces— Tax  Dodgers— Corporations— Professional  Politicians- 
Purchasable  Voters— Always  False  Issues— Pooling  Interests  by  Corrupt  Forces- 
Socialism  and  Municipal  Misrule — Tax  Dodgers,  Corporations.  Politicians  and  the 
Socialists— Why  no  Purchasable  Voters  under  Socialism— While  Capitalism  Re- 
mains—Corrupting -Forces  Put  Together  and  Out  of  Power— Keeping  Them  Out 
— Summary. 


15 
CHAPTER     XXXVII 

UNJUST  TAXATION  AND  SOCIALISM 

Justice  in  Taxation  Impossible— Indirect  Taxation— Property  Which  Can  be 
Hidden— Cannot  be  Hidden,  Held  in  ©mall  Holdings — Cannot  be  Hidden,  Held  in 
Large  Holdings— Public  Charges  Under  Socialism— Taxation  Under  a  Local 
Socialist  Administration— Oppressive  Taxation  and  Socialism— Who  Pays  the 
Taxes — Equalization  of  Collective  Burdens — Big  and'  Little  Tax  Payers— Summary. 

CHAPTER     XXXVIII 

PUBLIC    OWNERSHIP    AND    SOCIALISM 

The  Collective  Public— Collective  Ownership— Bismarck— Free  Rides  and  RenU 
and  Wag-es — A  Concession  in  the  Argument — A  Step  in  Evolution— An  Important 
Admission— Some  Advantages— Public  Ownership  of  the  Means  of  Producing  the 
Means  of  Life— Industrial  Democracy— Summary. 

CHAPTER    XXXIX 

THE  CIVIL  SERVICE   AND  SOCIALISM 

"The  Coming  Slavery"— The  Civil  Service— Self-Governing  Service— Post 
Office  Employes  and  the  President — Limited  Employment — The  Incompetent  and 
the  Unemployed — Self  Employment  for  All— Self  Government  by  All — Loss  of 
Self  Control— More  Democracy— The  Current  Slavery— Management  by  the  Com- 
petent—The Dismissal  of  the  Shop  Spy — Just  and  Rational  Promotion — Summary. 

CHAPTER    XL 

STATUS  OF  WOMAN  AND  SOCIALISM 

Disfranchised  Women — Economic  Dependence — Primitive  Self-Government— 
The  Soldier  and  the  Master— Voting  Instead  of  Fighting — Limited  Franchise  of 
Workingmen — Disfranchised  at  the  Shops — Socialists  and  Equal  Suffrage — Self- 
Government  of  the  Women  at  Work— Equal  Industrial  and  Political  Rights  for 
All— Women  in  Politics— Industrial  Emancipation— Summary. 

CHAPTER    XLI. 

THE   RACE    PROBLEM    AND    SOCIALISM 

Its  Importance — The  Chinese  Question— The  Negro  Question — Race  Competi- 
tion— Industrial  Training — Disfrachisement— Forbidding  'Marriages — Transporting— 
"A  White  Man's  World"— Chinese  Exclusion— Race  Antagonism  and  Economic 
Interests— Mastery  and  Servitude— Labor  Unions  and  the  Race  War— Illiterates- 
Illiteracy  and  Socialism — An  Italian  Example — Hating  Because  Fighting,  Not 
Fighting  Because  Hating — Slandering  the  Enemy — Race  Hatred  and  Robbery — 
Competing  for  Jobs— Socialism  Ends  the  Economic  War— Necessary  Race  Differ- 
ences Remain— End  of  Race  Robbery  and  Hatred— Summary. 

CHAPTER     XLII 

THE   TRAFFIC    IN    VICE    AND    SOCIALISM 

What  is  Vice— Drugs— Trifling  With  Life— Games  of  Chance— The  Traffic  In 
Vice — Stimulants  and  Narcotics  Under  Capitalism — The  Traffic  In  Women — The 
Gamblers — Sports  Are  Survivals — Gambling  the  Rule  of  the  Market — "A  Roaring 
Farce" — Prohibition — The  Saloon — Total  Abstinence — Summary. 

CHAPTER     XLIII 

THE    CHARITY    ORGANIZATIONS    AND    SOCIALISM 

Primitive  Co-operation  Not  Charity—Slaves  and  Serfs  Not  Victims  of  Charity 
— End  of  Personal  Relations  between  Masters  and  Servants— The  Early  Church 
and  Mutual  Aid  Among  the  Slaves — Public  Provision  for  Roman  Citizens — 
Guilds,  Mutual  Aid— Not  Charity  Organizations— Confiscation  of  Church  Property 
—Beginning  of  the  Poor  Laws— Modern  Charity— Exchanging  Self-Respect  for 
Bread— Hospitals  and  Asylums— Socialism  and  the  Helpless— Mutual  Dependence 
—The  Crippled,  the  Blind,  the  Aged— Victims  of  Social  Neglect— The  Shameless 
Compromise  of  a  Hopeless  Bankrupt— Tomorrow  All  Are  Helpless— Mutual  Aid 
Among  the  Poor— Franternity— Loss  of  the  Fraternal  Spirit— The  Days  of  Trial- 
Provoking  Evil — "Falling  Upward"— Summary. 


16 

PART  VI 
POLITICAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  PROPAGANDA 


CHAPTER    XLIV 

THE  NATURE  OF  A  POLITICAL  PARTY 

A  Means  of  Escaping  War— The  Last  Alternative— The  Record— The  Revolu- 
tionary Parties— The  Parties  of  the  Constitution— Washington's  Cabinet— End  of 
the  Federalists— Whigs  and  Democrats— Back  Sighted— The  Northwest  Territory- 
Land  Speculators  and  Plantation  Owners— Surrender  or  Fight— Voting  and  Fight- 
ing— Ordinary  Issues — The  Referendum — Exceeding  the  Power  of  the  .Referendum 
—No  Political  Parties— Mere  Appetites  for  Office— There  is  a  Real  Question— A 
Part  of  tlhe  Legal  Machinery— The  Primary  and  Election  Laws— National  Parties 
Purely  Voluntary— New  Parties—  Petitions— Disfranchising  Minorities— Summary. 

CHAPTER    XLV 

THE    SOCIALIST  PARTY 

Early  Organizations— Half  a  Century  Ago— Other  Countries— The  Populists- 
Imported  Socialism — Inherent  in  American  Life — Economics  and  Politics — Only 
Two  ©ides — The  American  Vanguard' — Her  Historical  Trend  Toward  Socialism- 
Partisan  'Pitfalls— Fusion— Capture  by  Its  Foes— Primary  Laws— No  National 
Primary  Laws — Limiting  the  Membership — Heresy  Trials— Withholding  Charters- 
Only  Rational  Methods  Can  Prevail— Disfranchisement  a  Failure— The  Only  Safe- 
Guard—Discipline  of  Politicians  by  Politicians— Censorship— "Doctrinal  Purity" 
— Voice  of  the  Minority — Free  Speech  and  Majority  Rule — Summary. 

CHAPTER    XLVI 

A    QUESTION    BOX 

Equal  Income?— The  Helpless ?— The  Lazy?— Boss  Rule  under  (Socialism?— Don't 
the  Machines  Earn  Anything?— The  Family?— The  Church?— The  State?— Incentive? 
—Class  Hate?— Low  'Motives ?— Robbing  the  Rich?— Equality  of  Races?— 'Paying 
Dues? 

CHAPTER  XLVII 

HOW  TO  WORK   FOR  SOCIALISM 

Previous  Training — Choosing  the  Place  of  Battle — A  Blank  Book — Your  Coun- 
try— Selecting  Your  Jury — Men  to  Avoid — Whom  to  Select — Where  to  Begin — 
How  to  Reach  Them — Conversations — Correspondence — Organization — Cash — Litera- 
ture— A  Worker's  Library — Public  Meetings — Classes  for  Study. 

CHAPTER  XLVIII 

THE   FINAL   SUMMARY 

A  Comrade's  Greeting — In  the  Infancy  of  Our  Race— Tusks  and  Claws — Primitive 

Achievements — Civilization — Evolution   of    Capitalism — Evolution   of  Socialism — Social 
and  Economic  Controversies — Current  Problems— Organization. 


The  Struggle  for  Existence 

PART    I 

CLEARING  THE  GROUND 


CHAPTER  I 

CAPITALISM  AND  SOCIALISM 

1.  The  Means  of  Life.— Man  cannot  live  without 
food,  fuel,  clothing  and  shelter.    He  cannot  live  well 
without  homes,  books,  pictures,  music,  literature,  gar- 
dens, places  of  pleasure,  and  transportation  for  him- 
self and  his  belongings,  together  with  the  leisure  for 
their  enjoyment. 

2.  Their  Sources.— Nature  has  provided  in  abun- 
dance the  raw  materials  out  of  which  the  skill  and 
industry  of  the  workers  may  provide  all  these  things, 
and  the  great  improvements  of  modern  industry  have 
so  increased  the  productive  power  of  the  workers  that 
abundance  for  all  can  be  produced  and  the  working 
day  so  shortened  that  there  will  be  ample  leisure  for 
all. 

3.  Monopoly.— But  the  lands,  tools,  shops,  store- 
houses and  transportation  lines  are  legally  owned  by 
the  few,  and  the  many  can  use  none  of  these  things  ex- 
cept with  the  consent  of  the  few  who  are  the  legal  own- 


18  CLEARING  THE  GROUND.  PART  I 

ers.  The  many  cannot  live  except  they  use  these  things 
to  produce  the  means  of  life,  and  hence  it  is  that  the 
many  cannot  live  at  all  except  on  terms  named  by 
the  few.1 

4.  Tyranny.—  The  legal  owners,  moreover,  do  not 
consent  that  the  workers  shall  use  either  the  natural 
resources  or  the  tools  of  industry  except  the  legal  own- 
ers keep  control  of  both  the  natural  resources  and  the 
tools  of  industry  while  in  use,  and  so  the  few  reserve 
to  themselves  the  right  of  mastery  over  the  many 
while  using  them  and  hence  the  many  must  live  as  the 
servants  of  the  few,  or  not  at  all.2 

5.  Inequality.—  Again,    the_JLega_L  .owners    of   the 
lands,  tools,   shops,   store-houses  and  transportation 
lines,  aj)gr^riajte_jtojthemselves  the  total  product  of 
the  industries,  conae^ting^that  the  workers_shall  have 
for 


^ 

barest.  subsistence.  The~~legal  owners  do  not  guar- 
antee that  the  workers  shall  always  have  an  oppor- 
tunity to  be  employed,  even  on  these  terms.  The  legal 
owners  insist  on  the  right  to  employ  "whom  they  will, 
for  such  hours  as  the  legal  owners  shall  name,  requir- 
ing such  speed  in  the  work  as  the  legal  owners  shall 

1.  "The  time  once  was  when  the  ownership  and  control  of  prop- 
erty were  largely  coincident.     We  have  been  gradually,  and  for  the 
most  part  unconsciously,  growing  away  from  these  conditions  in  our 
endeavor  to  secure  economies  of  modern  production,  and  at  the  saime 
time  retain  the  institution  of  private  property  unchanged."  —  Jones: 
Economic  Crises,  p.  52. 

2.  "The  possession  of  the  means  of  livelihood  gives  to  the  capital- 
ists the   control   of  the   government,   the   press,   the   pulpit,    and   the 
schools,  and  enables  them  to  reduce  the  workingmen  to  a  state  of  in- 
tellectual,  physical    and   social   inferiority,    political    subservience    and 
virtual  slavery."  —  National  Platform  of  the  Socialist  Party  of  America, 
adopted  at  Indianapolis,  1901. 

"The  whole  system  of  capitalistic  production  is  based  on  the 
fact  that  the  workman  sells  his  labor-power  as  a  commodity."  —  Marx: 
Capital,  p.  431. 

"There  is  no  principle  of  justice  which  gives  first  terms  [conditions] 
into  the  hands  of  one  individual  as  if  they  were  his  alone.  When  they 
lapse  into  his  possession,  the  slip  must  be  corrected  at  once."  —  Bascom: 
Sociology,  p.  228. 


CHAP.  I  CAPITALISM   AND   SOCIALISM  19 

choose,  and  paying  such  wages  as  the  legal  owners 
shall  determine. 

6.  No  Legal  Right  to  Life.—  If  the  Jegal  owners 
choose  io^  refuse  em^Loyni^ti-ta-an^i  particular  worker, 
Eejs  jiot^mitt  ed  ,  under  capitalism,  or  under  the  laws 
of  any  country  on  earth,  to 


opportunity  of  jinj^_sj)rjLto^  kind,  ' 

not  necessarily  because  of  any  fault  of  his,  buTsimply 
because  "no  one  hath  hired  him."3  If  the  worker 
proves  himself  of  great  value  to  his  master,  his  master 
may  improve  the  lot  of  such  a  worker—  not  because  of 
any  regard  for  that  particular  worker,  or  because  of 
any  lack  of  regard  for  other  workers,  but  simply  be- 
cause it  pays  the  master  better  to  do  so. 

7.    Inherited  Mastery  and  Servitude,—  A  child  born 
in  the  family  of  the  legal  owner  may  inherit  pro-  _ 
ductivejproperty,  and  through  this  pnvate^ownej^hipr- 
by  inherit  ap(*ft  of  iK^-lanrls  anH  tools,  wkiflb  others 
must  use,  he  jigj)orn  to  be  their_master  as  Jjie 


_ 

'be_his  Servants,  again,  not  Jaecause^ojLthe  fault-ef 
either  the  servant  or  the^master^uOecause  this  is 
inherent  in  capitalism. 

All  this  results  in  the  great  wealth  of  the_f  em_wha, 
create  no  wealth,  and  ^the  great  poverty  of  the  many, 
whocreate  all  wealth. 

•V  3.  "The  four  cardinal  tenets  of  Trade  Unionism  the  world  over 
are:  (1)  That  employes  shall  have  the  right  to  say  how  long  they 
shall  work.  (2)  How  much  work  they  shall  turn  out.  (3)  How 
much  they  shall  get  for  it.  (4)  Who  shall  be  employed.  The  Trade 
Unionist  declares  in  the  abstract  that  these  principles  are  non-arbitra- 
ble. The  critical  examination  of  the  demands  made  by  the 

modern  Trade  Unionist  will  show  that  they  contain  the  seed  of  indus- 
trial destruction."  This  is  taken  from  a  secret  circular  mailed  only 
to  employers  of  labor  by  the  American  Manufacturers'  Association. 
The  circular  argues  at  length  in  opposition  to  these  propositions,  con- 
tending that  the  employers  only  shall  determine  the  length  of  the 
day's  work,  the  amount  of  the  product  required,  and  the  wages  to  be 
paid,  and  insists  that  if  the  workingmen  are  to  be  heard  on  these  ques- 
tions it  means  industrial  destruction. 

The  able-bodied  man  without  money  and  begging  for  employment 
may  be  jailed  as  a  vagrant  in  every  State  in  the  Union. 


20  CLEARING  THE  GROUND  PART  I 


8,     Collectivism.—  On  the  other  hand,  the 
istsjngigHtet  the  lands,  togls^  shops^£torejiouses  and 
transportation  lines,  so  far  as  th^ 


used_by  alLof  the  people,  ought_to_bejowned  by  all  of 
the  people.4  Then  the  many^ouldnoFde^e^dTTTn^tlie* 
few,  for  the  consent  of  the  few,  for  the  many  to  stay 
alive;  nor  would  the  many  be  obliged  to  bargain  with 
the  few  in  order  to  secure  the  opportunity  to  produce 
the  means  of  life,  such  things  as  food,  fuel,  clothing 
and  shelter. 

9.    Democracy.—  Again,  the^Socialists  contend  tha 
^  ft   t  ^  A  wnr1  d  'ft   work    ought^  themselves 
0-    Then  the  relation  of 


mastery  aTse  cea-se,  ahcT  self-govern- 

ment would-extend  to  the  field  of  every  day's  activities 
and  control  by  the  common  voice  of  all  the  toilers  all 
the  interests  held  in  common  by  all  the  toilers. 

10.  Equality.—  And  finally,  the  Socialists  con- 
gnjL  that,  all  Tnpn^and^wom.en  shall  have  an  equal  op- 
portunity ta_become_  workers,  if  they  shall  so  choose,5 
njthe  management  of  industries  car- 


riedjpn  with  the  collective  use  of  the  collectively  owned 
lands,   toolSjjhops,   store-houses   and   transportation 


4.  "The   Socialist   Party  of  America,   in  national   convention  as- 
sembled, reaffirms  its  adherence  to  the  principles  of  International  So- 
cialism, and  declares  its  aim  to  be  the  organization  of  the  working 
class,  and  those  in  sympathy  with  it,  into  a  political  party,  with  the 
object  of  conquering  the  powers  of  government  and  using  them  for  the 
purpose  of  transforming  the  present  system  of  private  ownership   of 
the  means  of  production  and  distribution  into  a  collective  ownership 
by  the  entire  people." — National  Platform  of  the  Socialist  Party  of 
America,  adopted  at  Indianapolis,  1901. 

5.  "Not  only  do  we  owe  it  to  ourselves  to  pursue  a  serious  call- 
ing, but  likewise  to  society  at  large.    The  man  who  refuses  to  work  in 
some  way  or  other  lives  at  others'  expense.     This  is  no  less  true  of 
one  who  idly  spends  his  inheritance  than  of  the  professional  beggar  or 
thief.    From  the  legal  point  of  view  the  former  consumes  what  belongs 
to  him  and  does  no  wrong;   from  the    moral    standpoint,  however — • 
that  is,  in  reality — he  accepts  the  products  of  others  without  making 
any  return;  he  lives  as  a  parasite  at  the  table  of  the  people,  without 
helping  to  defray  the  costs." — Paulsen:  A  System  of  Ethics,  p.  533. 


CHAP.  I  CAPITALISM  AND  SOCIALISM  21 


lines,  with  dl  the  products  belonging  to  the  workers 
be  divided-among^them  as  the  workers 


aloae^shall  detejrniiner- 

11.  Under  Socialism.—  Then,  inasmuch  as  all  men 
and  women  would  have  the  opportunity  to  be  produc- 
ers, with  the  free  use  of  the  lands,  tools,  shops,  store- 
houses and  transportation  lines;  and  inasmuch  as  no 
one  would  then  have  the  power,  through  private  owner- 
ship of  the  industries,  where  others  toil,  or  through 
the  private  management  of  the  industries,  where  others 
are  employed,  or  through  the  private  appropriation  of 
the  products  which  others  produce,  either  to  enrich 
himself  or  to  exercise  the  power  of  mastery  over 
others,  then  the  great  unmerited  poverty  of  the  many 
and  the  great  unearned  wealth  of  the  few,  together  with 
all  industrial  despotism,  must  disappear.6 

12.  Summary.—  1.  Capitalism  is  the  private  owner- 
ship by  the  few  of  what  the  many  must  collectively 
use.    Socialism  is  the  collective  ownership  by  the  many 
of  what  the  many  must  collectively  use. 

2.  Capitalism  is  the  private  management,  by  the 
few,  of  the  work  which  the  many  must  do  collectively. 
Socialism  is  the  collective,  democratic  management  by 
the  many,  of  the  work  which  the  many  must  do  col- 
lectively. 

3.  Capitalism  is  the  private  appropriation,  by  the 
few,  of  the  products  of  the  many  with  no  one  able  to 
produce  without  the  consent  of  some  private  owner. 
Socialism  is  the  appropriation,  by  the  many,  for  the 

6.  "Property  [in  the  means  of  production]  is  today  a  lie  for  the 
majority  of  men,  a  robbery  for  the  minority.  Socialism  would  make 
property  the  possession  of  everyone.  It  would  convert  it  into  a  truth, 
secure  to  the  worker  within  society  the  full  proceeds  of  his  labor 
and  destroy  the  capitalistic  system  of  plunder  from  its  foundation. 
*  *  *  Our  end  is:  The  free  democracy  with  equal  economic  and 
political  rights;  the  free  society  with  associative  labor.  The  welfare 
of  all  is  for  us  the  one  end  of  the  state  and  society."  —  Liebknecht: 
Socialism,  What  It  Is  and  What  It  Seeks  to  Accomplish,  p.  23. 


22  CLEARING  THE  GROUND  PART  I 

/  individual  and  private  possession  and  use  of  the  many, 
of  the  products  produced  by  themselves,  with  equal  op- 
portunity for  all  men  and  women  to  be  producers,  if 
they  shall  so  choose. 

Capitalism  involves  the  unmerited  wealth  of  those 
who  are  idle,  and  the  unmerited  poverty  of  those  who 
are  the  creators  of  all  wealth.  Socialism  involves  the 
wealth  of  those  who  merit  wealth  by  becoming  its  pro- 
ducers, and  the  poverty  of  those,  only,  if  such  there  be, 
who,  having  the  opportunity  to  live  in  comfort,  choose 
rather  the  merited  poverty,  the  fruits  of  voluntary  idle- 
ness. 

Our  Purpose. 

By  what  process  did  capitalism  come  to  be?  How 
did  the  few  get  possession  of  the  natural  resources  and 
of  the  tools  which  all  must  use  or  perish  ?  Why  do  the 
many  submit  to  this  needless  tyranny  of  the  few?  Why 
do  the  many  continue  to  surrender  the  wealth  their  toil 
produces  to  make  millionaires  of  others  while  they  re- 
main in  such  pitiless  poverty  themselves? 

Whence  come  these  proposals  of  the  Socialists? 
On  what  grounds  do  they  rest  their  claims?  By  what 
process  has  the  movement  grown  in  power  ?  What  de- 
fense has  their  position  among  the  thoughtful  and  sin- 
cere students  of  affairs?  What  effect  will  the  coming 
of  Socialism  have  on  the  most  serious  interests  of  life 
and  the  great  social  problems  of  the  hour?  Can  these 
proposals  of  the  Socialists  be  adopted,  and  if  so,  by 
what  means  can  a  worker  contribute  most  to  a  peaceful 
and  speedy  victory  of  the  Socialists  ? 

To  answer  these,  questions  is  the  purpose  of  this 
volume. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  are  the  means  of  life? 

2.  What  are  the  means  of  producing  the  means  of  life  ? 

3.  Are   the   means    of   production   and   the   workers,    ready   and 
able  to  use  the  means  of  production,  abundant?    Defend  your  reply. 


CHAP.  I  CAPITALISM  AND  SOCIALISM  23 

4.  If  so,  why  do  not  the  workers  proceed  to  produce  and  keep  for 
their  own  use  sufficient  for  their  needs? 

5.  Why  are  the  workers  obliged  to  get  the  consent  of  those  who 
do  not  work  before  they  are  able  to  produce  the  means  of  life  ? 

6.  To  what  relation  must  all  workers  .now  submit  before  they  are 
permitted  to  earn  a  living  for  themselves  and  families? 

7.  Are  the  children  of  the  workers  born  to  be  the  servants  of 
others? 

8.  What  results  from  this  dependence  and  subordination  of  those 
who  work  as  related  to  those  who  do  not  work? 

9.  Give  three  points     of  contrast  between  what  prevails  under 
capitalism  and  what  would  prevail  under  Socialism. 


CHAPTER  H 

FIRST  PRINCIPLES 

13.  In  the  Beginning.— Until  recently  it  has  been 
the  custom  of  thoughtful  people  to  account  for  the 
coming  into  existence  of  the  earth  and  of  all  forms  of 
life  and  of  all  social  institutions  on  the  earth— by  as- 
suming that  in  the  beginning  some  force  or  forces  were 
at  work  which  are  no  longer  acting,  or  at  least,  are  not 
acting  as  subject  to  the  natural  laws  now  known  to  be 
in  operation.    It  was  formerly  supposed  that  only  by 
making  some  such  assumption  could  the  main  facts  of 
life  be  reasonably  explained. 

But  it  is  now  quite  generally  agreed  by  all  thought- 
ful students  of  nature  that  we  may  look  upon  and 
directly  study  all  of  the  forces  and  processes  necessary 
to  give  a  rational  explanation  of  all  of  the  main  facts 
of  life,  including  the  process  by  which  man  himself 
came  to  his  present  perfect  physical  form. 

14.  The    Struggle    for    Existence.  —  It    is    true, 
throughout  all  nature,  that  no  form  of  life  can  long 
exist  except  it  struggles  for  existence.    It  is  true  that 
the  very  struggle  develops  the  organs  used  for  that 
struggle.    It  is  true  that  any  individual  peculiarity 
which  may  make  the  struggle  a  successful  one  by  en- 
abling its  possessor  to  survive,  will  also  survive.    It  is 

24 


CHAP.  II  FIRST   PRINCIPLES  25 

plain  that,  any  individual  peculiarity  which  may  make 
the  struggle  fail,  by  causing  its  possessor  to  disappear, 
such  peculiarity  would  also  disappear.  Now,  every 
form  of  life  is  constantly  acted  upon  by  all  the  forces 
and  conditions  which  surround  it.  Is  it  not  clear  that 
those  individuals  whose  organs  are  best  fitted  to  the 
conditions  or  forces  acting  upon  them,  or  that  are 
able  to  use  those  organs  in  a  way  best  fitted  to  the 
conditions  or  forces  acting  upon  them,  are  the  most 
likely  to  survive  in  their  struggle  for  existence  as 
against  changing  or  adverse  conditions  and  in  the  face 
of  destructive  natural  forces?1 

15.  The  Collective  Struggle.— In  the  same  way, 
those  great  groups  of  individuals  whose  members  are 
born  one  from  another,  and  have  the  same  organs  and 
the  same  general  bodily  functions— those  groups,  in 
their  struggle  against  all  other  groups,  would  be  most 
likely  to  survive  which  were  found  in  the  actual  strug- 
gle to  be  best  equipped  for  the  purposes  of  the  strug- 
gle.    In  the  same  way,  those  groups  best  able  and 
most  disposed  to  guard  each  other  in  the  struggle 
with  other  groups  and  to  help  each  other  to  survive 
within  their  own  groups,  by  making  joint  provisions 
against  adverse  conditions   and  destructive  natural 
forces,  would  be  most  likely  to  survive.2 

16.  Constant  Changes  and  Survivals.— Now,  all  na- 
ture is  in  the  process  of  constant  change.    Any  changes 
in  any  of  the  forms  of  life  which  place  the  new  forms 
of  life  at  a  disadvantage  in  the  struggle  for  existence, 
mean  that  the  new  forms  will  cease  to  exist.    Any 

1.  Darwin:  Origin  of  Species,  Chapter  III. 

2.  "The  change  that  has  been  made  in  the  point  of  view  of  eco- 
nomics by  the  present  generation  is     *     *     *     due  to  the  discovery  that 
man  himself  is  in  a  great  measure  a  creature  of  circumstances  and 
changes  with  them;    and  the  importance   of  this  discovery  has  been 
accentuated  by  the  fact  that  the  growth  of  knowledge  and  earnestness 
has  recently  made  and  is  making  deep  and  rapid  changes  in  human  na- 
ture."— Marshall:   Present  Position  of  Economics    (Inaugural  Lecture, 
Cambridge  University,  1885),  pp.  12-13. 


26  CLEARING  THE  GROUND  PART  I 

changes  which  place  the  new  forms  at  a  better  ad- 
vantage mean  that  the  new  forms  will  survive  and 
that  a  new  form  has  thus  appeared  as  a  new  form  in 
nature.  Continue  this  process  long  enough,  change 
the  conditions  often  enough,  follow  the  forms  of  life 
up  from  the  sea,  up  from  the  soil,  down  from  the  trees, 
into  the  erect  position,  into  the  development  of  new 
tools  for  new  tasks  rather  than  new  organs  for  new 
tasks,  into  the  more  effective  struggle  for  existence 
by  creating  organized  groups,  tribes,  nations,  rather 
than  attempting  a  further  and  impossible  improvement 
in  the  organic  structure  of  the  individual,  and  you  have 
accounted  for  man's  existence  and  have  discovered 
the  method  of  his  advance.3 

17.  The  Higher  from  the  Lower  Forms.— You  have 
not  accounted  for  the  natural  forces,  but  you  have 
not  been  obliged  to  assume  the  existence  of  any  force 

3.     "     *     *  The  creation  of  man  was  by  no  means  the  creation 

of  a  perfect  being.  The  most  essential  feature  of  man  is  his  im- 
provableness,  and  since  his  first  appearance  on  the  earth  the  changes 
that  have  gone  on  in  him  have  been  enormous,  though  they  have  con- 
tinued to  run  along  in  lines  that  were  then  marked  out.  The  changes 
have  been  so  great  that  in  many  respects  the  interval  between  the 
the  highest  and  the  lowest  men  far  surpasses  quantatively  the  interval 
between  the  lowest  men  and  the  highest  apes.  If  we  take  into  account 
the  creasing  of  the  cerebral  surface,  the  brain  of  a  Shakespeare  and 
that  of  an  Australian  savage  would  doubtless  be  fifty  times  greater  than 
the  difference  between  the  Australian's  brain  and  that  of  an  orang- 
outang. In  mathematical  capacity  the  Australian,  who  cannot  tell 
the  number  of  fingers  on  his  two  hands,  is  much  nearer  to  a  lion  or 
a  wolf  than  he  is  to  Sir  Rowan  Hamilton,  who  invented  the  method 
of  quaternions.  In  moral  development  this  same  Australian,  whose 
language  contains  no  word  for  justice  and  benevolence,  is  less  remote 
from  dogs  and  baboons  than  from  a  Howard  or  a  Garrison.  The  Aus- 
tralian is  more  teachable  than  the  ape,  but  his  limit  is  nevertheless 
very  quickly  reached.  All  the  distinctive  attributes  of  man,  in  short, 
have  been  developed  to  an  enormous  extent  through  the  long  ages 
of  social  evolution.  . 

"This  psychical  development  of  man  is  destined  to  go  on  in  the 
future  as  it  has  gone  on  in  the  past.  The  creative  energy  which 
has  been  at  work  through  this  bygone  eternity  is  not  going  to  become 
quiescent  tomorrow.  From  what  has  already  gone  on  during  the  his- 
toric period  of  man's  existence,  we  can  safely  predict  a  change  that 
will  by  and  by  distinguish  him  from  all  other  creatures  even  more 
widely  and  more  fundamentally  than  he  is  distinguished  today."- 
Fiske:  Destiny  of  Man,  pp.  71-73. 


'  HAP.  II  FIRST  PRINCIPLES  27 

which  you  cannot  now  see  in  existence.  You  have  not 
accounted  for  the  constant  changes  in  all  forms  of  life, 
but  you  can  see  such  changes  going  on  all  around  you. 
You  have  explained  the  development  of  the  higher 
forms  of  life  from  the  lower  forms  of  life,  and  you  have 
done  so  by  simply  extending  through  long  periods  of 
time,  the  action  of  the  forces  which  you  see  now  in 
operation.  All  this  results  from  the  struggle  for  ex- 
istence, the  individual  struggling  against  other  indi- 
viduals as  well  as  against  adverse  natural  conditions 
and  forces,  and  the  members  of  the  same  groups  strug- 
gling for  each  other  and  against  all  other  groups  as 
well  as  against  adverse  natural  conditions  and  forces. 
This  is  found  by  actual  observation  to  be  the  process 
of  all  organic  physical  development,  and,  as  we  shall 
see  further  on,  of  all  social  progress.4 

18.  Argument  for  the  Theory  of  Development. - 
That  we  may  see  the  full  force  of  this  truth  and  be 
better  able  to  follow  the  arguments  of  all  succeeding 
pages,  consider  some  of  the  proofs,  not  that  this  is  a 
possible  and  rational  explanation,  but  that  it  is,  in  all 
likelihood,  the  real  and  the  only  possible  explanation 
of  the  method  of  development:— 

19.  The  Human  Embryo.— 1.    This  whole  theory  of 
development  was  first  suggested  by  the  study  of  the 

4.  "In  life  and  in  history  every  man  suffers  whatever  fate  is 
conditioned  by  his  natural  constitution.  Yet  his  natural  constitution 
depends  not  on  him,  but,  as  we  have  seen,  upon  the  social  medium  from 
which  he  emerges.  This  is  to  blame  if  individual  fates  are  so  seldom 
proportional  to  individual  merits.  For  fate  strikes  the  individual  in 
proportion  to  the  merits  of  the  species,  so  to  speak.  His  own  merits 
may  be  different.  Historical  development  cares  nothing  for  that, 
The  course  and  events  of  history  are  commensurate  with 
the  character  and  conditions  of  the  social  media ;  and  this  we  must 
recognize  as  historical  justice.  There  is  none  other  in  history  or  even 
-in  nature. 

"Hence  the  alpha  and  omega  of  sociology,  its  highest  perception 
and  final  word  is :  human  history  a  natural  process ;  *  *  *  it  preaches 
most  impressively  man's  renunciatory  subordination  to  the  laws  of  na- 
ture which  alone  rule  history." — Gumplowicz:  Outlines  of  Sociology, 
p.  213. 


28  CLEARING  THE  GROUND  PART  1 

growth  of  the  human  embryo.  It  was  noticed  that  the 
embryo  of  a  child,  forming  in  its  mother's  womb,  be- 
gins with  the  simplest  known  form  of  life,  and  by  a 
constant  shifting  of  forms,  from  the  simpler  to  the 
more  perfect  forms,  it  assumes  every  possible  simpler 
form,  fish,  amphibian,  reptile  and  mammal,  until  at 
last  it  reaches  the  form  of  man.5 

It  is  held  that  this  is  so,  because  the  race  has 
passed  through  all  these  simpler  forms  before  reaching 
the  form  of  man.  This  order  of  development  is  equally 
true  of  the  embryo  of  all  lower  forms  of  life.  They 
all  pass  through  all  lower  forms  before  reaching  their 
own.  A  human  embryo,  of  a  certain  growth,  has  a  tail 
longer  than  its  legs;  at  another  and  later  growth  it 
has  a  complete  covering  of  hair;  at  birth  it  sometimes 
has  the  "  blow-holes "  of  a  fish  still  open  in  its  neck, 
and  always  at  birth  the  strongly  developed  grip  in 
its  hands  which  indicates  an  earlier  stage  of  human 
development  when  clinging  to  the  boughs  of  trees  was 
the  habit  of  the  race.6  The  theory  of  development  ex- 
plains all  this.  No  other  explanation  is  possible. 

20.  Rudimentary  Survivals.— 2.  There  are  numer- 
ous organs  in  the  body  for  which  man  has  now  no  use, 
but  which  are  of  service  in  the  simpler  forms  of  life. 
They  are  believed  to  be  survivals  from  those  simpler 
forms  of  life.  The  muscles  for  whipping  the  ears,  for 
shaking  the  scalp,  for  using  the  tail,  the  three  to  five 
bony  joints  of  the  tail  still  found  at  the  base  of  the 
back,  though  overgrown;  the  vermiform  appendix, 
which  in  grass-eating  animals  is  of  great  size  and  of 
great  service,  but  which  in  man  shrivels  after  birth, 
and,  while  it  performs  no  known  function  in  the  hu- 
man economy,  it  remains  always  a  point  of  danger,— 
are  instances  of  such  survivals.  It  is  claimed  that  not 

5.  Ward:      Dynamic  Sociology,  Vol.  I.,  p.  340. 

6.  Alfred  Russell  Wallace:  Malay  Archipelago,  p.  53. 


CHAP.  II  FIRST  PRINCIPLES  29 

fewer  than  seventy  such  survivals  are  found  in  the 
human  body,  none  of  which  perform  any  known  func- 
tion, all  of  which  are  of  use  in  lower  forms  of  life,  but 
which  remain  in  man  as  so  many  perpetual  witnesses 
of  the  process  of  the  making  of  the  human  form.7 

Make  bare  your  arm  and  notice  how  the  scattering 
hair  on  the  hands  and  arms  is  arranged.  On  the  hand 
and  forearm  it  points  away  from  the  wrists;  on  the 
arm,  both  above  and  below  the  elbow,  it  points  toward 
the  elbow.  Now  place  yourself  in  a  stooped-over  posi- 
tion, as  if  sitting  and  balancing  yourself  in  a  tree; 
raise  your  wrists  to  your  ears;  drop  your  hands  for- 
ward and  downward;  extend  on  either  side  your  elbows 
and  imagine  a  heavy  coating  of  hair  on  head  and  hands 
and  arms,  and  you  can  see  yourself  heavily  thatched 
with  hair  extending  downward  from  the  crown  of  your 
head  and  ready  to  protect  you  from  the  storm.  Just 
such  a  position  is  now  taken,  in  time  of  storm,  by  the 
orang,  whose  hair  is  arranged  in  the  same  way  and 
evidently  for  the  same  purpose.8 

The  theory  of  development  explains  all  this.  No 
other  theory  can. 

21.  The  Record  of  the  Rocks.— 3.  When  geologists 
began  the  study  of  the  rocks,  they  not  only  discovered 
evidences  which  confirmed  the  theory  of  development, 
but  they  found  the  proof  of  the  great  age  of  the  world, 
of  the  passing  of  the  countless  centuries  required  for 
the  slow  development  of  the  higher  forms  of  life.  They 
discovered  that  all  rocks  were  in  conditions  which  in- 
dicated their  origin  by  processes  which  would  require 
great  periods  of  time  for  their  formation.  They  found 
two  classes  of  rocks,  the  water-laid  and  the  fire-fused. 
The  water-laid  rocks  were  nearest  the  surface,  and 

7.  For  popular  discussion  of  vestigial   organs,   see  Drummond's 
Ascent  of  Man,  Chapter  II. 

8.  Romanes:    Darwin  and  After  Darwin,  pp.  89-92. 


30  CLEARING  THE  GROUND  PART  I 

were  formed  as  if  all  the  substances  of  these  rocks 
had  been  pulverized  and  then  deposited  by  the  ac- 
tion of  water.  They  were  found  in  layers,  with  the 
marks  of  the  action  of  water  on  them  and  with  the 
fossils  of  plants  and  animals  so  imbedded  in  them  that 
it  seemed  impossible  to  resist  the  conclusion  that  they 
were  placed  in  the  positions  in  which  they  were  found 
by  the  action  of  water,  and  hence  the  name  of  the 
water-laid  rocks. 

The  fire-fused  rocks  are  below  the  water-laid  rocks 
and  form  the  foundation  of  the  earth's  crust.  The  evi- 
dence seems  conclusive  that  they  were  formerly  a  mol- 
ten mass,  and  hence  the  name  of  the  fire-fused  rocks. 
The  substance  which  makes  up  the  water-laid  rocks 
must  have  been  first  pulverized  from  the  surface  of 
the  fire-fused  rocks. 

The  water-laid  rocks  are  in  layers  one  above  another 
and  contain  the  fossilized  remains  of  the  vegetable  and 
animal  forms  of  life  which  were  in  existence  during 
the  time  in  which  the  various  layers  were  being  formed. 
These  fossils  show  a  constant  improvement  in  the 
forms  of  life  in  each  higher  layer  of  the  rocks,  and  at 
last  suggest  that  these  forms  of  life  grew  out  of  each 
other  by  a  natural  process  of  improvement  or  develop- 
ment. 

The  process  of  pulverizing  the  surface  of  the  original 
fire-fused  rocks  by  frost,  wave  and  storm,  and  then 
the  gathering  together  of  these  small  particles  in  the 
slow  deposits,  resulting  from  the  natural  movements 
of  the  waters  and  their  final  solidification  into  rocks, 
must  have  occupied  vast  ages  of  time.  And,  leading 
to  the  same  conclusions,  the  forms  of  life  whose  fossils 
were  found  in  these  rocks  would  require  a  like  dura- 
tion for  the  development  of  the  last  and  more  perfect 
forms  of  life,  found  in  the  highest  and  most  recent  of 


CHAP.  II  FIRST  PRINCIPLES  31 

these  rocks,  from  the  simplest  forms  of  life  found  in 
the  lowest  and  oldest  of  the  rocks. 

22.  The  Time  Required.— The  geologists  studying 
the  earth  could  not  explain  the  water-laid  rocks  with- 
out great  periods  of  time  for  their  formation.     The 
biologist  studying  the  forms  of  life  could  not  explain 
their  continuous  development,  showing  in  each  higher 
layer  of  the  rocks  higher  forms  of  life,  unless  great 
periods  of  time  were  granted  for  their  development. 
So  the  time  element  in  the  development  of  the  forms 
of  life  confirms  the  hoary  age  of  the  rocks,  which  have 
preserved   the   fossilized   remains   of  the   improving 
forms  of  life;  and  the  time  element  in  the  formation  of 
the  rocks,  confirms  the  belief  in  the  measureless  ages 
during  which  the  simpler  forms  of  life  were  growing 
into  the  form  of  man.9 

23.  Confirmation  by  the  Astronomers.— Astronomy 
came  with  its  story  of  the  earth's  origin  and  of  its 
relation  to  the  rest  of  the  universe.    It  showed  that 
the  earth  was  a  birth,  rather  than  a  creation,  and  it 
asked  for  space  so  boundless  and  time  so  limitless  that 
the  time  calculations  of  the  students  of  the  rocks  and 
of  the  forms  of  life,  seemed  to  come  far  short  rather 
than  to  exceed  the  long  periods  of  actual  duration. 
Where  the  geologist  and  biologist  had  spoken  in  thou- 
sands, the  astronomer  spoke  in  millions.    And  so  all 
students  of  nature  came  to  the  conclusion  of  the  very 
great  age  of  the  earth,  and,  by  the  same  reasoning, 
they  came  to  a  conviction  of  the  very  great  age  of  the 
human  race,  for  in  the  midst  of  these  rock  records  of 
the  past  were  found  the  records  of  man  and  of  his 
products.    These  investigations  have  so  extended  the 
known  age  of  our  race  as  almost  to  make  the  use  of 
numbers  meaningless.    It  is  commonly  held  that  the 

9.     Haeckel :  In  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution 
for  1898,  On  Our  Present  Knowledge  of  the  Origin  of  Man. 


32  CLEARING  THE  GROUND  PART  I 

age  of  the  race  cannot  be  less  than  one  hundred  thou- 
sand years,  with  the  strong  probability  of  its  being 
not  less  than  half  a  million  years.10  The  theory  of 
development  explains  all  this.  No  other  theory  can. 

24.  Conclusions.— Here,  then,  is  the  story  of  the 
growth  of  the  race  told  over  again  by  the  growth  of 
the  embryo  of  each  new  child.    Here  is  the  record  of 
the  remnants  of  organs  now  useless,  but  which  were 
once  of  service  in  the  earlier  forms  of  life.    Here  is  the 
record  of  the  rocks  told  without  prejudice  and  with  no 
interest  in  mis-stating  the  facts,  and  here  the  proof 
of  the  passing  of  the  countless  centuries  necessary  for 
the  development  to  so  take  place.    You  may  see  the 
life-struggles,  by  which  this  advance  has  taken  place, 
still  going  on  between  the  individuals  and  between  the 
groups,  for,  among  plants,  animals  and  men,  there  are 
both  the  struggle  against  all  else,  for  the  preservation 
of  the  individual,  and  the  surrender  of  the  individual 
for  the  preservation  of  its  kind.    This  last  suggestion 
will  be  more  largely  discussed  in  the  succeeding  chap- 
ter.   (See  also  Chapter  XHI). 

25.  Summary.— 1.    All  forms  of  life  are  struggling 
for  existence. 

2.  All  forms  of  life  are  always  changing. 

3.  The  new  forms  which  come  as  the  result  of  con- 
stant changes,  which  make  more  effective  the  struggle 
for  existence,  are  the  ones  which  survive. 

4.  It  is  this  process  which  results  in  the  progress 
of  persons,  races  and  institutions. 

5.  That  the  life  of  man  has  been  so  developed  is 

10.  Lyell:  Principles  of  Geology;  Avebury:  Prehistoric  Times, 
pp.  360-404;  Geike:  The  Great  Ice  Age,  pp.  766-816;  J.  Croll:  Climate 
and  Time,  Chapter  XXI. 

"We  have  every  reason  to  believe,  then,  that  the  great  Glacial 
period  of  the  Pleistocene  Age  began  240,000  years  ago,  and  came  to 
an  end  80,000  years  ago.  But,  at  the  beginning  of  this  period  men 
were  living  in  the  valley  of  the  Thames  River." — Fiske:  Excursions  of 
an  Evolutionist,  Chapter  on  "The  Arrival  of  Man  in  Europe." 


CHAP.  II  FIRST  PRINCIPLES  33 

believed,  (a)  because  of  the  repetition  of  such  a  race 
development  in  the  growth  of  the  human  embryo,  (b) 
because  of  the  rudimentary  survivals  of  organs  found 
in  the  human  body,  not  now  of  any  service,  but  which 
are  of  service  to  lower  forms  of  life,  and  (c)  because  of 
the  constant  improvement  in  the  forms  of  life  as  re- 
corded in  the  rocks,  showing  the  simplest  forms  of  life 
only  in  the  oldest  rocks  and  continually  showing  higher 
forms  as  the  advance  is  made  upward  through  the  more 
recent  strata  of  the  rocks  and  finally  to  the  form  of 
man. 

6.  The  theory  of  development,  that  is,  of  evolu- 
tion, explains  all  this,  and  the  same  theory  of  develop- 
ment, that  is,  of  evolution,  is  the  basis  of  all  scientific 
study  of  the  development  of  social  institutions. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  How  was  the  present  order  of  existence  formerly  accounted 

for? 

2.  What  is  the  scientific  method? 

3.  What  is  meant  by  the  struggle  for  existence  and  survival  of 
the  fittest? 

4.  Does  this  account  for  the  origin  of  natural  forces  themselves  ? 

5.  Give  the  three  arguments  in  defense  of  the  claim  of  the  theory 
that  man  has  been  developed  from  lower  forms  of  life. 

6.  What  of  the  probable  age  of  the  human  race  ? 


CHAPTER  in 

PRIMITIVE   LIFE 

26.  Savagery,  Barbarism  and  Civilization.— Until 
within  recent  years  the  story  of  the  primitive  life  of 
our  race  was  not  thought  to  be  of  much  importance. 
It  was  not  understood  to  have  covered  any  great 
periods  of  time  or  to  have  had  any  important  part 
in  the  making  up  of  the  usages  and  the  institutions  of 
civilized  life.    It  was  generally  thought  that  the  dif- 
ference between  savage  people  and  civilized  people 
was  largely  a  matter  of  races.    It  was  not  generally 
thought  that  the  races  now  civilized  were  at  any  time 
themselves  savages.    It  was  historically  known  that  all 
had  been  in  barbarism.1    It  is  now  known  that  all  were 
in  savagery  before  they  were  in  barbarism,  just  as 
all  were  in  barbarism  before  they  were  in  civilization. 
The  distance  which  lies  between  savagery  and  civiliza- 
tion is  not  a  matter  of  the  different  natural  endow- 
ments of  the  different  races.     It  is  a  matter  of  the 
different  degrees  of  development  of  the  different  races.2 

27.  The  Order  of  Development.— It  is  now  a  matter 

1.  Ancient  Society:  Lewis  H.  Morgan,  pp.  3-18;  Tylor:  Primitive 
Culture,  Vol.  I.,  Chap.  2. 

2.  Morgan:    Ancient  Society,  pp.  3-18;  Tylor:    Primitive  Culture. 
Vol.  I.,  Chap.  2. 

34 


CHAP.  Ill  PRIMITIVE  LIFE  35 

of  agreement  among  scholars  that  just  as  a  chemist 
may  put  certain  substances  into  a  crucible  and  predict 
the  result  of  applying  heat  and  the  steps  by  which  the 
result  is  reached;  and  that,  just  as  another  familiar 
with  the  experiment  could  come  upon  the  scene  in 
the  midst  of  the  proceeding  and  tell  all  the  steps  which 
had  gone  before  and  all  which  were  to  follow,  so  if  a 
student  of  primitive  society  is  given  certain  habits  or 
customs  of  a  people,  he  can  determine  the  stage  of  its 
growth,  and  so  be  able  to  tell,  with  great  certainty, 
not  only  the  steps  which  it  has  taken,  but  many  of  its 
current  habits  and  customs,  and  can  tell,  with  equal 
certainty,  the  next  step  in  its  progress.  You  can  tell 
such  a  student  the  implements  found  in  the  graves  of 
an  ancient  people,  and  he  can  tell  you  mucji  of  their 
forms  of  government,  the  nature  of  their  sex/relations 
and  the  kind  of  houses  which  they  built.3 

28.  If  a  race  is  found  which  has  not  developed  the 
use  of  the  bow  and  arrow,  it  may  be  quite  safely  in- 
ferred that  promiscuous  sex  relations,  no  permanent 
dwellings  and  only  the  most  primitive  forms  of  govern- 
ment will  be  found  characteristic  of  that  race.  If  a  sav- 
age or  barbarian  race  be  found  without  slaves,  it  may 
be  predicted,  with  equal  certainty,  that  the  private 
ownership  of  land,  the  use  of  money  or  a  market, 
will  not  be  found  among  the  practices  of  that  race. 

29.  Object  Lessons  in  History.— In  this  way  the 
rude  tribes  which  still  linger  in  their  infancy  reveal 
to  us  what  the  life  of  our  own  race  was  when  in  like 
infancy.     Hence  it  follows  that  modern  scholarship 
has  not  only  multiplied  the  years  allotted  to  the  early 
life  of  the  race,  but  it  has  made  this  study  of  primitive 
man  of  the  utmost  importance,  because  here  can  be 
studied  in  the   simplicity   of  their  beginnings,   the 
usages  and  the  institutions  of  our  civilized  life.    Civili- 

3.     Morgan:  Ancient  Society,  Preface  and  First  Three  Chapters. 


36  CLEARING  THE  GROUND  PART! 

zation  was  not  invented.  It  was  born  and  has  grown 
out  of  the  humblest  and  most  natural  beginnings.4 

30.  Primitive  Man  Not  Helpless.— Again,  it  has 
been  the  custom  to  assume  that  man  commenced  his  ca- 
reer full-grown,  with  wants  and  faculties  much  as  he 
now  has  them,  and  to  have  proceeded  to  establish  the 
home,  the  industry,  the  commerce,  and  the  govern- 
ment of  the  world  by  a  kind  of  inspired  contrivance. 
When  scholarship  learned  to  deny  all  this  and  to  in- 
sist on  the  lowly  origin  and  slow  development,  not 
only  of  man  himself,  but  also  of  all  the  usages  and  in- 
stitutions of  society  which  he  posseses,  it  spoke  so 
frequently  of  primitive  man  as  "  without  experience 
and  utterly  helpless "  as  to  become  misleading  with 
regard  to  the  facts  of  our  early  life.5 

For  it  is  certain  that  the  first  man  that  ever  lived 
did  not  suddenly  awaken  from  his  animal  antecedents 
and  look  around  for  food  and  shelter  in  keeping  with 
the  tastes  and  necessities  of  man  as  we  know  him. 

Modern  science  attempts  to  prove  that  the  first  man 
came  into  the  world,  like  the  last  one,  by  being  born 
into  it.  He  might  have  been  a  slight  improvement  on 
his  mother,  but  he  took  the  food  and  shelter  which  she 
provided  and  asked  no  questions.  If  she  was  the  last 
in  the  series  to  be  called  brute  and  her  child  the  first 
in  the  series  to  be  called  man,  it  is  only  reasonable  to 
assume  that  both  the  mother  and  her  child  inherited 
and  possessed  all  of  the  higher  cunning,  instincts  and 
habits  which  can  now  be  found  among  the  lower  ani- 
mals. The  bird  and  her  woven  nest,  the  bee  and  its 
matted  storehouse,  the  beaver  and  its  dam,  the  squirrel 

4.  "The  social  system  is  not  the  creation  of  any  man  or  set  of 
men,  but  has  grown  of  itself  out  of  the  tendency  among  men  to  secure 
the  things  they  wish  for  the  least  exertion." — Baker:  Monopolies  and 
the  People,  p.   141.     See  also  Morgan:    Ancient  Society,  Preface  and 
First  Three  Chapters. 

5.  Mason:    Woman's   Share   in   Primitive   Culture,    Introduction. 
Clodd :  Childhood  of  the  World. 


CHAP.  Ill  PRIMITIVE  LIFE  37 

and  its  store  of  food— these  would  lead  us  to  think 
that  the  first  man,  the  superior  of  all  these,  with  his 
limited  wants,  his  ample  inheritance  of  cunning,  in- 
stinct and  habit  from  his  animal  ancestry  and  the  un- 
taken  earth  at  his  disposal,  would  find  the  question  of 
subsistence  an  easier  one  than  the  average  resident  of 
a  back  alley  in  a  modern  factory  town.  He  was  never 
"without  experience  and  utterly  helpless." 

31.  The  Roots  of  Civilization.— It  is  now  admitted 
that  the  usages  and  institutions  of  modern  society 
"find  not  only  their  antecedent  roots  in  barbarism,  but 
their  germs  in  savagery.  "6  It  seems  that  it  might  be 
further  said  that  these  germs  were  themselves  given  vi- 
tality and  form  during  the  preceding  countless  centu- 
ries when  man's  animal  ancestry  had  not  yet  advanced 
to  the  forms  of  life  which  finally  and  distinctively  mark 
the  life  of  man.  If  this  is  so,  not  only  can  we  gather  the 
meaning  of  our  institutions  from  the  early  life  of  man, 
but  from  the  instincts  and  habits  of  all  natural  life 
we  may  obtain  hints  which  may  prove  helpful  in  the 
interpretation  of  the  usages  and  institutions  of  modern 
society.7 

If  we  would  understand  modern  usages  and  institu- 

6.  Morgan:  Ancient  Society,  p.  4. 

7.  "The  struggle  for  existence  among  men  is  probably  as  severe 
as  that  among  the  lower  forms  of  organic  life.    Among  men,  as  among 
animals  or  plants,  we  find  a  number  of  young  brought  into  being  which 
is  far  in  excess  of  the  number  that  reaches  maturity.     *     *     *     But 
while  the  intensity  of  the  struggle  is  the  same,  the  conditions  under 
which  it  is  waged  are  different  in  certain  important  respects.  In  the  first 
place,  the  human  struggle  is  between  groups  more  than  between  individ- 
uals. In  the  second  place,  it  is  a  struggle  for  domination  more  than  for 
annihilation,  a  struggle  which  has  in  it  the  possibility  of  losing  part  of 
its  character  as  a  strife,  and  giving  place  to  an  arrangement  for  mutual 
service  between  those  whose  interests  at  first  seemed  to  conflict.  Neither 
of  these  things  is  wholly  confined  to  the  human  race.     ***** 
The  race  of  ants  which  has  proved  stronger  in  the  fight  [mark  the  word 
"fight"]  no  longer  regards  the  members  of  the  weaker  race  as  rivals 
to  be  killed,  but  as  helpers  to  be  utilized  in  labor  fof  which  the  fighting 
race  is  unfitted.     Under  such  circumstances  we  find  institutions  and 
usages  which  are  in  many  respects  strikingly  like  those  of  semi-civilized 
man." — Hadley:     Economics,  pp.  19     *     *     20. 


38  CLEARING  THE  GROUND  PART  I 

tions,  we  must  seek  the  reasons  for  their  existence  in 
the  humble  beginnings  of  the  primitive  life  of  man.  The 
family,  the  church,  the  state,  the  workshop,  the  market, 
agriculture,  mining,  transportation,  literature  and  art 
—all  these  have  come  to  be  what  they  are,  not  by  the 
invention,  contrivance  or  decree  of  any  man  or  million 
of  men,  but  as  the  result  of  struggle  and  the  slow 
growth  of  the  life  of  the  race  through  a  thousand 
centuries.8 

32.  The  Struggle  for  Existence  Fundamental.— And 
this  long  struggle  has  always  been  at  bottom  a  struggle 
for  existence;  that  is,  for  the  means  of  life,  a  struggle 
for  food,  fuel,  clothing,  shelter.  This  struggle  neces- 
sarily always  comes  first  in  all  personal  and  social 
life.  Only  when  this  struggle  has  been  successfully 
made  can  there  be  any  struggle  for  the  higher  com- 
forts and  refinements  of  modern  civilization.  The 
claim  is  not  that  man  has  no  other  interests  than  these. 
It  is,  that  his  other  interests  cannot  exist  at  all  unless 
these  things  are  first  provided.9  The  fact  is,  that  the 
whole  race  has  been  so  completely  engaged  in  secur- 
ing these  things,  or  in  seeking  to  possess  these  things, 

8.  "The  key  to  the  enigma  of  the  universe  is  found  in  the  doctrine 
of  evolution.     *     *     *     To  the  physical,  animal,  vegetable,  and  even 
mineral  worlds,  the  doctrine  of  evolution  equally  applies,  and  its  sig- 
nificance is  not  confined  to  a  necessary  connection  between  the  terms 
'evolution/  'man,'  and  'monkey,'  so  often  now-a-days  found  unalterably 
associated  in  the  minds  of  the  ignorant.    The  doctrine  is  a  fundamental 
conception  of  all  science — mental,  moral,  and  physical.     *     *     *     The 
study  of  evolution  in  all  its  branches  is  the  study  of  history ;  but  history 
of  different  kinds.     The  study  of  the  evolution  of  society  is  history 
in  its  highest  and  truest  sense." — Melville:     The  Evolution  of  Modern 
Society  in  Its  Historical  Aspect  5   Smithsonian  Report,   1891,  pp.   507 
*     *     *     21. 

Socialism  is,  after  all,  in  its  fundamental  conception, 
only  the  logical  application  of  the  scientific  theory  of  natural  evolution 
to  economic  phenomena." — Ferri:  Socialism  and  Modern  Science,  p.  94. 

9.  "The  secret  of  progress,  the  perpetual  satisfying  of  wants  fol- 
lowed by  the  springing  up  of  new  wants,  is  the  secret  of  individual 
unrest  and  disappointment." — Toynbee :     Notes  and  Jottings. 

"The  prime  factors  in  social  progress  are  the  Community  and  its 
Environment.  The  environment  of  a  community  comprises  all  the  cir- 
cumstances, adjacent  or  remote,  to  which  the  community  may  be  in 


CHAP.  Ill  PRIMITIVE  LIFE  39 

because  of  the  power  over  others  which  their  possession 
has  given,  that  there  has  been  neither  the  time  nor  the 
strength  to  give  sufficient  attention  to  other  interests— 
to  so  withstand  the  force  of  the  struggle  for  existence— 
as  to  make  it  possible  to  enable  other  things  to  make 
any  very  important  mark  on  the  life  of  the  race.10 

33.  The  Human  Brain,  With  Both  Base  and  Dome. 
—It  is  not  contended  that  there  is  no  crown  to  the 
brain  of  man,  with  its  aspirations,  its  ideals,  its  lofty 
purposes.    It  is  claimed  that  the  struggle  for  the  ex- 
istence of  the  individual  and  the  struggle  for  the  exist- 
ence of  the  group  of  related  individuals  has  been  so  in- 
tense that  the  seat  of  the  vital  functions,  of  hunger 
and  of  lust— that  is,  the  base  of  the  brain  and  not  its 
dome— has  had  the  mastery. 

34.  And  so,  if  one  wishes  to  learn  what  the  masters 
have  done,  it  must  be  looked  for  in  the  domain  of 

any  way  obliged  to  conform  its  actions.  It  comprises  not  only  the 
climate  of  the  country,  its  soil,  its  flora  and  fauna,  its  perpendicular 
elevation,  its  relation  to  the  mountain-chains,  the  length  of  its  coast 
line,  the  character  of  its  scenery,  and  its  geographical  position  with  ref- 
erence to  other  countries,  but  it  includes  also  the  ideas,  feelings,  cus- 
toms and  observances  of  past  times,  so  far  as  they  are  preserved  by 
literature,  traditions,  or  monuments;  as  well  as  foreign  contemporary 
manners  and  opinions,  so  far  as  they  are  known  and  regarded  by 
the  community  in  question.  *****  The  environment  in  our 
problem  must,  therefore,  not  only  include  psychical  as  well  as  physical 
factors,  but  the  former  are  immeasurably  the  more  important  factors, 
and  as  civilization  advances  their  relative  importance  steadily  in- 
creases. *  *  *  \ye  have  first  to  observe  that  it  is  a  corollary 
from  the  law  of  use  and  disuse,  and  the  kindred  biologic  laws  which  sum 
up  the  process  of  direct  and  indirect  equilibration,  that  the  fundamental 
characteristic  of  social  progress  is  the  continuous  weakening  of  selfish- 
ness and  the  continuous  strengthening  of  sympathy.  Or — to  use  a 
more  convenient  and  somewhat  more  accurate  expression  suggested  by 
Comte — it  is  a  gradual  supplanting  of  egotism  by  altruism. — Fiske: 
Outlines  of  Cosmic  Philosophy,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  197,  201. 

10.  "It  is  abundantly  true  that  human  qualities  and  material  con- 
ditions react  on  one  another;  and  any  student  or  social  reformer  is 
self -condemned  who  leaves  either  one  or  the  other  out  of  account." — 
Cunningham:  Modern  Civilization — Its  Economic  Aspects,  p.  4. 

"A  closer  analysis  shows  that  the  fundamental  distinction  be- 
tween the-  animal  and  the  human  method  is  that  the  environment 
transforms  the  animal,  while  man  transforms  environment." — Ward: 
Psychic  Factors  of  Civilization,  p.  257. 


40  CLEARING  THE  GROUND  PART! 

the  activities  of  these  basic  faculties.  But  the  very 
existence  of  the  higher  faculties  of  man  demonstrates 
the  long  continuance  of  the  struggle  for  a  hearing  for 
the  higher  possibilities  of  human  life.  Either  the 
whole  theory  of  development  is  wrong,  or  else  it  has 
been  the  effort  of  the  brain  to  function  in  the  realm  of 
aspiration,  of  veneration,  of  mutual  beneficence,  which 
has  forced  the  growth  and  development  of  these  por- 
tions of  the  upper  human  brain,  now  believed  to  be 
especially  essential  in  order  that  these  particular 
traits  may  be  found  in  the  character  of  their  possessor. 
If  the  present  has  inherited  the  product  of  such  activi- 
ties, then  its  ancestry  must  have  engaged  in  such  ac- 
tivities.11 

35.  Higher  Activities  Not  Denied.— In  looking  for 
the  principal  cause  of  all  political  and  social  institu- 
tions at  any  time  in  the  conditions  under  which  the 
struggle  for  existence  has  been  carried  on  at  that  time, 
it  is  not  contended  that  there  are  no  other  forces  be- 
sides economic  needs.  So  far  in  the  world's  life,  the 
other  forces  have  not  been  able  to  achieve  the  mastery. 
If  the  struggle  for  existence,  carried  on  only  on  the  line 
of  securing  food,  fuel,  clothing  and  shelter,  is  the  only 
possible  motive  for  human  activity,  then  there  would 
be  a  most  discouraging  outlook  for  the  race,  for  those 
who  hope  to  see  this  struggle  for  existence  made  of 
secondary  consideration.  When  further  organization, 
better  equipment  and  the  collective  ownership  and  con- 
trol of  industry  shall  make  food,  fuel,  clothing  and 
shelter  the  easy  possession  of  all  men,  if  these  are  all 
there  is  of  life,  what  then  shall  spur  men  on  to  further 
achievements  ?  There  is  more  in  life  than  food  and  rai- 
ment. The  possession  of  these  things  will  not  rob  life 
of  its  meaning.  There  are  higher  things  in  life.  Their 
roots  run  far  back  in  the  life  of  the  world  and  ground 

11.  The  History  of  the  world  is  none  other  than  the  progress  of 
the  consciousness  of  Freedom." — Hegel:  Philosophy  of  History  (Bohn 
Edition),  pp.  19-20. 


CHAP.  Ill  PRIMITIVE   LIFE  41 

themselves  in  the  most  fundamental  activities  of  the 
animal  kingdom.  But  they  are  not  yet  the  masters  of 
man's  activities.12 

36.  The  Crucifixion  of  the  Worthiest  and  the  Sur- 
vival of  the  Best  Adapted.— Forever  in  the  world's 
yesterdays,  the  ruling  laws,  the  ruling  institutions,  the 
ruling  ideals,  the  ruling  morals,  the  ruling,  religions, 
have  been  the  laws,  institutions,  ideals,  morals  and  re- 
ligions of  the  ruling  forces;  and  the  ruling  forces,  so 
far  in  the  world's  life,  have  been  fighting  for  the  con- 
trol of  the  basic  necessities,— for  the  most  primitive 
needs  of  man.  The  highest  ideals  frequently  rule  in 
domestic  relations.  The  devotion  and  sacrifice  of 
parental  regard  give  us  glimpses  of  what  man  might 
be  in  his  social  relations.  But  so  far  in  the  life  of  the 
race,  whenever  individuals,  in  their  social  relations, 
have  risen  above  these  fundamental  demands  of  sub- 
sistence and  the  activities  resulting  from  them,  they 
have  been  starved,  or  hanged,  or  crucified.  And  then 
the  very  forces  which  have  crucified  these  heroes,  for 
living  in  advance  of  their  time,  have  adopted  the  cant 
phrases  of  the  new  life,  have  banished  its  spirit  and 
have  harnessed  its  enthusiasm  to  the  same  old  "  bread 
and  butter"  problem  as  before.  The  " bread  and  but- 
ter" problem  has  ruled  in  all  the  past.  It  will  rule  in 
the  future  until  it  is  solved,  and  poverty  and  the  fear 
of  poverty  shall  no  longer  be  able  to  terrorize  the 
world.13 

12.  "One  of  the  philosophical  things  that  have  been  said  in  dis- 
criminating man  from  the  lower  animals,  is  that  he  is  the  one  creature 
who  is  never  satisfied.     It  is  well  for  him  that  he  is  so,  that  there  is 
always  something  more  for  which  he  craves.     To  my  mind  this  fact 
strongly  hints  that  man  is  infinitely  more  than  a  mere  animate  ma- 
chine."—Fiske :    A  Century  of  Science,  pp.  120-21. 

"There  are  men  who  could  neither  be  distressed  nor  won  into 
a  sacrifice  of  their  duty;  but  this  stern  virtue  is  the  growth  of  few 
soils;  and  in  the  main  it  will  be  found  that  a  power  over  a  man's 
support  is  a  power  over  his  will." — Alexander  Hamilton:  The  Fed- 
eralist, No.  LXXIII. 

13.  "Taking  man,  however,  for  what  he  has  thus  far  been  and 


42  CLEARING  THE  GROUND  PART! 

Whoever  would  understand  the  past  must  look  at  all 
the  problems  of  the  past  from  the  " bread  and  butter" 
standpoint.  Whoever  would  have  other  forces  rule 
the  future  must  first  solve  for  the  future  the  "  bread 
and  butter  "  problem. 

37.  Darwin,  Spencer,  Marx.— These  are  the  great 
natural  truths  which  suggest  and  defend  the  theory  of 
evolution,  which  Darwin  applied  to  the  study  of  the 
origin  of  the  different  kinds  of  animals,  and  which 
Herbert  Spencer  insisted  must  apply  to  all  departments 
of  thought,  and  Karl  Marx  definitely  applied  to  the 
study  of  the  labor  problem,  and  so  developed  the  scien- 
tific defense  of  the  Socialist  proposals. 

38.  This  is  what  is  usually  meant  by  such  phrases 
as,  "the  materialistic  conception  of  history ;m4  "the 
economic  interpretation  of  history; "  "the  economic 
foundations  of  society, ' '  and ' i  economic  determinism. ' ' 
It  will  be  seen  that  this  insistence  upon  economic  causes 
as  of  fundamental  importance  in  economic  and  social 
discussions  in  no  way  denies  the  foundations  of  re- 
ligion nor  ignores  any  of  the  highest  faculties  of  the 
human  mind. 

still  is,  it  is  difficult  to  deny  that  the  underlying  influence  in  its 
broadest  aspects  has  very  generally  been  of  this  economic  character. 
The  economic  interpretation  of  history  in  its  proper  formulation,  does 
not  exhaust  the  possibilities  of  life  and  progress;  it  does  not  ex- 
plain all  the  niceties  of  human  development;  but  it  emphasizes  the 
forces  which  have  hitherto  been  so  largely  instrumental  in  the  rise 
and  fall,  in  the  prosperity  and  decadence,  in  the  glory  and  failure, 
in  the  weal  and  woe  of  nations  and  peoples.  It  is  a  relative,  rather 
than  an  absolute,  explanation.  It  is  substantially  true  of  the  past; 
it  will  tend  to  become  less  and  less  true  of  the  future." — Seligman: 
The  Economic  Interpretation  of  History,  pp.  157-58. 

14.  "In  the  social  production  of  their  every-day  existence  men 
enter  into  definite  relations  that  are  at  once  necessary  and  independ- 
ent of  their  own  volition — relations  of  production  that  correspond 
to  &  definite  stage  of  their  material  powers  of  production.  The  to- 
tality of  these  relations  of  production  constitutes  the  economic  struc- 
ture of  society — the  real  basis  on  which  is  erected  the  legal  and  po- 
litical edifice  and  to  which  there  correspond  definite  forms  of  social 
consciousness.  The  method  of  production  in  material  existence  condi- 
tions social,  political  and  mental  evolution  in  general."— Marx:  A 
Criticism  on  Political  Economy. 

"It  is,  however,  important  to  remember  that  the  originators  of 


CHAP,  in  PRIMITIVE  LIFE  43 

39.    Summary.— 1.    All  the  races  of  men  were  once 
in  savagery  and  barbarism. 

2.  The  beginnings  of  all  modern  institutions  may  be 
found  in  savagery  and  barbarism. 

3.  A  knowledge  of  the  nature  of  the  beginnings^of 
modern  institutions  in  savagery  and  barbarism  and  of 
their  development  from  these  humble  origins  is  neces- 
sary to  the  understanding  of  modern  institutions. 

4.  The  principal  controlling  factors  in  the  process 
of  man's  development,  and  of  the  institutions  which  he 
has  established,  are  to  be  found  in  his  struggle  for  ex- 
istence and  the  means  he  has  used  and  the  organiza- 
tions he  has  created  to  this  end. 

5.  This  does  not  mean  that  there  are  no  other  fac- 
tors in  human  life,  but  that  the  problems  involved  in 
providing  for  existence  must  always  be  solved  before 
other  matters  can  be  given  just  consideration. 

the  theory  have  themselves  called  attention  to  the  danger  of  exag- 
geration. Toward  the  close  of  his  career  Engels,  influenced  no  doubt 
by  the  weight  of  adverse  criticism,  pointed  out  that  too  much  had  some- 
times been  claimed  for  the  doctrine.  'Marx  and  I,'  he  writes  to  a  stu- 
dent in  1890,  'are  partly  responsible  for  the  fact  that  the  younger 
men  have  sometimes  laid  more  stress  on  the  economic  side  than  it 
deserves.  In  meeting  the  attacks  of  our  opponents  it  was  necessary 
for  us  to  emphasize  the  dominant  principle,  denied  by  them ;  and  we  did 
not  always  have  the  time,  place  or  opportunity  to  let  the  other 
factors,  which  were  concerned  in  the  mutual  action  and  reaction, 
get  their  deserts.'  In  another  letter  Engels  explains  his  meaning  more 
clearly: — 'According  to  the  materialistic  view  of  history  the  factor 
which  is  in  the  last  instance  decisive  in  history  is  the  production 
and  reproduction  of  actual  life.  More  than  this  neither  Marx  nor  I 
have  ever  asserted.  But  when  any  one  distorts  this  so  as 
to  read  that  the  economic  factor  is  the  sole  element,  he  converts  the 
statement  into  a  meaningless,  abstract,  absurd  phrase.  The  economic 
condition  is  the  basis,  but  the  various  elements  in  the  superstruc- 
ture— the  political  forms  of  the  class  contests,  and  their  results,  the 
constitution — the  legal  forms,  and  also  all  the  reflexes  of  these  actual 
contests  in  the  brains  of  the  participants,  the  political,  legal,  phil- 
osophical theories,  the  religious  views  *  all  these  exert  an 
influence  on  the  development  of  the  historical  struggles,  and  in  many 
instances  determine  their  form'.  " — Seligman :  The  Economic  Interpre- 
tation of  History,  pp.  141-3. 

"  *  *  *  I  am  convinced  that  to  omit  or  neglect  these  eco- 
nomical facts  is  to  make  the  study  of  history  barren  and  unreal.  With 
every  effort  that  can  be  given  to  it,  the  narrative  of  the  historian 
can  never  be  much  more  than  an  imperfect  or  suggestive  sketch.  We 


44  CLEARING  THE  GROUND  PART  I 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  From  what  earlier  condition  of  life  have  all  civilized  peoples 
arisen? 

2.  In  what  way  can  one   even  now   directly   observe   social   ac- 
tivities like  the  earlier  social  activities  of  his  own  race? 

3.  By  what   process  has   civilization   come   into   existence? 

4.  Were  the  earliest  forms  of  human  life  ever  "without  experi- 
ence and  utterly  helpless"? 

5.  Why  is  the  study  of  primitive  life  of  great  value  to  the  stu- 
dent  of   social    problems? 

6.  Why  are  economic  questions  of  such  great  importance  in  the 
study  of  all  human  usages  and  institutions? 

7.  What  has  usually  been  the  fate  of  the  great  idealists?     Why? 

8.  Does   this   mean  that    ideals    are   without   value   or   that   the 
struggle  for  the  means  of  life  is  not  only  the  most  fundamental  busi- 
ness of  life,  but  the  highest  and  worthiest  possible  undertaking? 

9.  What  is  meant  by  the  phrases: — "materialistic  conception  of 
history,"    "the    economic    interpretation    of    history,"    "the     economic 
foundations  of  society,"  "economic  determination"? 

may  get  the  chronology  correct,  the  sequence  of  events  exact,  the  de- 
tails of  the  campaigns  precise,  the  changes  of  frontier  reasonably 
accurate,  but  may  still  be  far  off  from  the  controlling^  motives  of 
public  action,  may  be  entirely  in  the  dark  as  to  the  real  cause  ot 
events." — Rogers:  Economic  Interpretation  of  History,  yp.  6***12. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  ORDER  OF  PRIMITIVE  PROGRESS 

40.  In  the  study  of  the  life  of  man,  it  is  found  that 
the  advance  of  the  race  falls  into  three  grand  divisions: 
Savagery,  Barbarism  and  Civilization.  Savagery  and 
Barbarism  are  each  subdivided  into  three  periods, 
while  Civilization  is  considered  as  a  single  period.  We 
thus  have  seven  periods  in  all.1  In  presenting  this  mat- 
ter here,  the  classifications  of  Mr.  Lewis  H.  Morgan  are 
followed.2  The  information  so  arranged  has  been 
gathered  from  a  large  number  of  sources.  The  ef- 
fort has  been  made  to  include  nothing  except  those 
items  regarding  the  truth  of  which  the  recognized 
students  of  these  matters  are  in  substantial  agree- 
ment. 


1.  "The  value  of  history  lies  not  in  the  multitude  of  facts  col- 
lected, but  in  their  relation  to  each  other." — Adams:  Law  of  Civiliza- 
tion and  Decay,  Preface,  V. 

2.  Morgan:     Ancient   Society,  pp.  9-14. 

"Before  man  could  have  attained  to  the  civilized  state  it  was 
necessary  that  he  should  gain  all  the  elements  of  civilization.  This 
implies  an  amazing  change  of  condition,  first  from  a  primtive  sav- 
age to  a  barbarian  of  the  lowest  type,  and  then  from  the  latter  to  a 
Greek  of  the  Homeric  period,  or  a  Hebrew  of  the  time  of  Abraham. 
The  progressive  development  which  history  records  in  the  period  of 
civilization  was  not  less  true  of  man  in  each  of  the  previous  periods. 

"By  re-ascending  along  the  several  lines  of  human  progress  toward 
the  primitive  ages  of  man's  existence,  and  removing  one  by  one  his 


46  CLEARING  THE  GROUND  PART  1 

41.  First  Period— Man  With  Only  His  Inheritance 
From  His  Animal  Ancestry.— The  first  of  these  periods, 
which  was  in  Savagery,  covers  the  time  after  man's 
advance  above  the  other  animals  to  the  human  form 
and  prior  to  the  discovery  and  use  of  fire  and  the 
adding  of  fish  to  man's  earlier  diet  of  roots,  fruits  and 
nuts.     There  were  then  promiscuous  relation  of  the 
sexes,  no  government,  no  arts,  no  inventions,  no  organ- 
izations of  industry  and  no  recognition  of  property.3 

42.  Second  Period— Fire.— The  second  period,  still 
in  Savagery,  began  with  the  discovery  of  the  use  of 
fire  and  the  use  of  fish  as  food.    During  this  period 
the  first  division  of  labor  was  made  by  leaving  the 
women  about  the  fires  while  the  men  joined  together 
in  the  fishing.4    The  earliest  forms  of  social  organiza- 

principal  institutions,  inventions,  and  discoveries,  in  the  order  in 
which  they  have  appeared,  the  advance  made  in  each  period  will  be 
realized. — "Morgan:  Ancient  Society,  pp.  29-30. 

"Morgan  deserves  great  credit  for  rediscovering  and  re-estab- 
lishing in  its  main  outlines  this  foundation  of  our  written  history, 
and  of  finding  in  the  sexual  organizations  of  the  North  American  In- 
dians the  key  that  opens  all  the  unfathomable  riddles  of  most  an- 
cient Greek,  Roman  and  German  history.  His  book  is  not  the  work 
of  a  short  day.  For  more  than  forty  years  he  grappled  with  the  sub- 
ject, until  he  mastered  it  fully.  Therefore  hi»  work  is  one  of  the  few 
epochal  publications  of  our  time.  *  *  *  Morgan  was  the  first 
to  make  an  attempt  at  introducing  a  logical  order  into  the  history 
of  primeval  society.  Until  considerably  more  material  is  obtained,  no 
further  changes  will  be  necessary  and  his  arrangement  will  surely 
remain  in  force." — Engels:  Origin  of  the  Family,  pp.  10-11,  27. 

3.  Westermark  and  others  have  contended  that  promiscuous  ^  sex 
relations  did  not   prevail   in  savagery,  but  the  monogamic   relations 
for  which  Westermark  contends  were  of  such  a  nature  as  not  to  ma- 
terially affect  the  argument  that  the  family,  like  other  institutions 
of   modern    society,    has    been    developed    as    the    result    of    economic 
causes,    operating  through   long   periods   of   time.      The   sex   relations 
have  constantly  advanced  in  the  direction  of  more  and  more  exclu- 
siveness    from   the   beginning.      First   those    not   helping   to   keep   the 
tribal  fire  on  the  one  hand,   and  those  not  belonging  to  the   corre- 
sponding fishing   groups,    on   the   other,   were   excluded.     Then   blood 
relations  were   excluded.     Then  those  not   personally   attracted   were 
excluded.     Then  those  not  dependent  for  support  were  excluded,  and 
finally   there    remains    but    one    more    possible     exclusion,    and     that 
is  not  possible  under  capitalism.    It  is  the  self-possession  of  all  women 
and  the  consequent  exclusion  from  sex  relations  of  all  those  brought 
together  in  consideration  of  property  interests. 

4.  Mason:    Woman's    Share    in    Primitive   Culture,    Introduction. 


CHAP.  IV          THE  ORDER  OF  PRIMITIVE  PROGRESS  47 

tion  appear  to  have  grown  out  of  this  division  of  labor: 
the  women  combining  to  guard  the  fire,  and  the  men 
combining  for  fishing  expeditions,— both  groups  grow- 
ing into  fixed  relations  along  sex  lines.  The  family 
also  had  its  earliest  form  from  the  same  causes,  all  of 
the  men  of  the  whole  group  became  the  husbands  of 
all  of  the  women  of  the  corresponding  group.  In  these 
groups,  both  men  and  women  were  of  blood  relation.5 
But  promiscuous  sex  relations  outside  the  groups  came 
to  an  end.  The  fires  and  the  fishing  grounds  were  held 
and  used  collectively. 

43.  Third   Period— Bow   and   Arrow.— The  third 
period,  the  last  in  Savagery,  began  with  the  use  of  the 
bow  and  arrow.    During  this  period  the  family  idea 
advanced  to  a  stage  under  which  all  the  women  of  a 
group  were  of  blood  relation,  and  the  men  not  so  re- 
lated to  each  other;  or  all  the  men  were  of  blood  rela- 
tion, and  the  women  not  so  related  to  each  other.    The 
group  marriage  remained  and  promiscuous  sex  rela- 
tions within  the  groups,  but  blood  relations  were  not 
admitted  into  group  relations  across  sex  lines. 

44.  The  gens  appeared  as  an  advance  in  govern- 
ment by  which  all  of  those  belonging  to  the  groups  and 
maintaining  relation  of  kinship  after  the  above  man- 
ner, were  bound  together  in  the  common  control  of 
their  common  interests.    To  the  diet  of  fruit,  nuts,  roots 
and  fish,  was  added  game,  which  the  hunters,  now 
equipped  with  the  bow  and  arrow,  were  able  to  capture. 
There  were  further  uses  for  fire  and  improvements  in 
the  camps.    Industry  was  still  carried  on  by  the  joint 
effort  of  all,  and  whatever  productive  property  existed 
was  held  and  used  in  common.6 

45    Fourth   Period— Pottery.— The   fourth   period, 
the  first  in  Barbarism,  began  with  the  making  and  use 

5.  Mason:  Woman's  Share  in  Primitive  Culture,  p.  221. 

6.  Morgan:   Ancient   Society,  pp.  525-527. 


48  CLEARING  THE  GROUND  PART  I 

of  pottery.  This  is  believed  to  have  been  woman 's  in- 
vention, and  the  period  is  marked  by  a  corresponding 
improvement  in  her  work.7  The  forms  of  government 
advanced  by  the  gentes  combining  into  larger  groups. 
Each  gens  continued  to  maintain  its  separate  existence 
as  before,  but  the  larger  groups,  called  phratries,  ex- 
tended the  idea  of  social  organization.  The  family  ad- 
vanced to  the  point  where  each  man  or  woman  claimed, 
or  might  claim,  some  man  or  woman  of  the  correspond- 
ing gens  as  especially  his  or  hers,  but  this  did  not  ex- 
tend to  the  exclusive  possession  of  each  other,  and 
each  sex  still  lived  by  itself.  There  was  still  co-opera- 
tive labor  and  common  ownership  of  productive  prop- 
erty. 

46.  Fifth  Period— Taming  the  Animals.— The  fifth 
period,  the  second  in  Barbarism,  began  with  the  taming 
and  use  of  animals,  the  building  of  houses  of  adobe 
brick  and  stone,  the  cultivation  of  corn  and  the  cereals 
and  the  use  of  irrigation   in    the  cultivation  of  the 
ground.    There  was  still  co-operative  labor  and  the  col- 
lective ownership  of  all  property  collectively  used,  now 
including  fields,  herds  and  houses.     The  family  did 
not  change  form.    The  phratries  made  combinations 
and  thus  formed  tribes  after  the  same  manner  as  the 
gentes  had  combined  to  make  the  phratries.     There 
was  a  great  change  in  the  diet  and  in  the  clothing  of 
the  people.    A  much  larger  portion  of  the  earth  was 
made  habitable,  and,  consequently,  as  the  herds  grew 
in  numbers,  the  population  migrated  looking  for  wider 
fields  of  pasturage.    The  permanent  possession  of  defi- 
nite territory  by  any  given  tribe  became  a  matter  of 
importance.8 

47.  Sixth  Period— Iron.— The  sixth  period,  the  last 

7.  Mason:   Woman's  Share  in  Primitive  Culture,  Chap.  V. 

8.  Ihering:  Evolution  of  the  Aryans,  pp.  14-44,  and  48-50;  Mor- 
gan:    Ancient  Society,  p.  540. 


CHAP.  IV          THE  ORDER  OF  PRIMITIVE  PROGRESS  49 

in  Barbarism,  began  with  the  smelting  of  iron;  and 
iron  tools,  together  with  iron  weapons  for  hunting  and 
for  war,  came  into  use.  The  tribes  began  to  federate 
into  nations.  The  stronger  men  began  to  contend  for 
the  exclusive  possession  of  favorite  women,  and  so 
polygamy  came  into  being,  as  the  practice  of  military 
leaders.  It  never  became  the  established  order  of  the 
common  life.  At  the  same  time  the  relations  between 
the  men  and  the  women  of  their  mutual  and  special 
choice  advanced  toward  the  mutual  and  exclusive 
possession  of  each  other.  There  were  the  beginnings 
of  the  modern  family.9 

48.  Primitive   Products  and   Inventions.— During 
this  period  there  is  found  to  have  been  in  use  rice,  bar- 
ley, wheat,  corn,  rye,  oats,  peas,  beans  and  onions, 
gold,  silver,  brass,  iron,  tin  and  bronze,  the  sickle,  the 
pruning  knife,  the  distaff,  the  spindle,  the  shuttle  and 
the  loom,  the  harp  and  the  shepherd's  pipe,  the  dyke, 
bridge  and  the  irrigation  ditch,  garments  of  cloth  and 
shoes  of  leather,  houses  of  stone  and  brick,  the  dog, 
sheep,  goat,  hog,  cow  and  horse,  the  wagon  of  four 
wheels,  the  saddle,  pottery,  the  basket,  the  mill  for 
grinding,  and  sailing  vessels.10 

49.  The  labor  of  production  was  still  the  work  of 

9.  "In  primitive  times  sexual  matters  concerned  the  tribe,  not 
the  person.     The  end  sought  was  the  preservation  of  the  group,  and 
against   it  no   individual   had   any   rights,   nor   were   his   inclinations 
and  feelings  ever  made  the  basis  of  duties  or  virtues.     Where  parent- 
age is  unimportant  promiscuity  is  the  rule.     Especially   in  fighting 
clans  it  was  necessary  to   offer   every   inducement   for   child-bearing. 
Festivals,  feasts,  and  social  gatherings  were  designed  to  provoke  the 
passions. 

"Under  such  conditions  the  first  thought  of  a  woman  was,  not 
to  guard  her  chastity,  but  to  escape  barrenness.  She  knew  that  her 
position  and  probably  her  life  depended  upon  her  fertility.  Chastity 
became  a  dominant  virtue  only  after  economic  welfare  had  pro- 
gressed so  far  that  clans  began  to  disintegrate.  Before  that  time 
barrenness  was  the  dread  of  every  woman,  and  she  would  resort  to 
every  means  to  avoid  it." — Professor  Patten  (University  of  Penn- 
sylvania) :  Development  of  English  Thought,  p.  137. 

10.  All  these  are  mentioned  by  Homer,  who  was  the  great  poet 
of  the  last  period  of  Barbarism. 


50  CLEARING  THE  GROUND  PART  1 

women,  but  woman's  work  was  beginning  to  be  rein- 
forced by  slaves.  These  were  men  captured  from  other 
tribes.  In  the  earliest  wars,  the  fight  was  unto  death 
for  one  group  or  the  other.  The  victorious  men  would 
save  the  women  alive  and  take  them  unto  themselves, 
adding  them  to  the  body  of  their  own  wives,  where 
they  would  make  a  part  of  the  working  force  of  the 
tribe.  Slavery  made  its  beginning  by  saving  alive  the 
men  who  would  finally  surrender,  and  taking  them 
home  to  join  the  women  in  the  tribal  industry.11  This 
was  the  result  of  one  of  the  most  important  discoveries 
of  all  time— that  a  man  is  worth  more  alive  than  dead. 
50  Barbarian  Expansion.— The  tribes  were  press- 
ing upon  each  other  for  territory.  The  herds  were  out- 
growing the  pastures  and  the  populations  were  out- 
growing the  smaller  herds.  Enlargement  was  neces- 
sary. To  stay  at  home  meant  ruin  through  the  limited 
means  of  life.  To  go  abroad  meant  war.  Whatever 
may  be  said  of  the  early  union  of  men  within  the  tribes, 
there  is  no  evidence  whatever  of  any  appreciation  of 
any  rights  of  any  sort,  for  those  outside  the  tribe.  The 
gods  of  the  tribes  usually  gave  them  all  the  land  they 
wanted,  without  regard  to  whether  it  was  already  oc- 
cupied or  not,  the  only  condition  being  that  "they 
go  up  and  take  it."12  The  result  was  universal  war. 
War  was  becoming  the  regular  occupation  of  men.  But 
war,  like  hunting  and  fishing,  was  a  joint  matter,  and 
the  lands,  usually  the  herds,  and  always  the  products  of 
hunting,  fishing  and  the  spoils  of  war,  belonged  to  all 
in  common.13 

11.  Morgan:  Ancient  Society,  p.  540. 

12.  Gummere:    Germanic  Origins,  Chapter  IX.;   Maine:   Ancient 
Law,  p.  125;  Ihering:  Evolution  of  the  Aryans,  pp.  19-20. 

13.  While  I  have  followed  Morgan's  classifications,  I  have  marked 
the  periods  as  beginning  with  certain  events,  as  serving  my  purpose 
better  than  as  ending  with  certain  other  events.     In  this  instance  he 
mentions    these    items    as   belonging   to    near    the    end    of    Barbarism, 
while  I  mention  them  as  marking  the  beginning  of  Civilization.     The 


CHAP.  IV         THE  ORDER  OF  PRIMITIVE  PROGRESS  51 

51.  Seventh  Period— The  Alphabet,  War,  Slavery 
and  the  Class  Struggle.— The  seventh  period  is  that 
covered  by  Civilization.    This  period  is  said  to  have 
begun  with  the  invention  of  the  alphabet.    The  begin- 
ning of  this  period  was  also  marked  by  the  beginning 
of  private  property  in  herds  and  lands  as  well  as  slaves. 
The  motive  of  war  and  the  function  of  the  military  de- 
partment speedily  changed  from  an  effort  for  relief 
from  overcrowding  to  one  of  seeking  power  by  con- 
quering and  appropriating  to  private  use  the  herds 
and  lands  of  others  and  reducing  the  populations  of 
the  conquered  lands  to  slavery.    In  fact,  it  was  the  be- 
ginning of  slavery  as  a  dominant  industrial  institution, 
as  the  slave  of  an  earlier  day  had  been  a  kind  of  mem- 
ber of  the  tribe  or  family,  but  now  the  slaves  were 
organized  into  camps  by  themselves— and  the  co-op- 
erative organization  of  industry  gave  way  to  slavery. 
Government  changed  from  a  free  association  based  on 
kinship  to  an  authority  based  wholly  on  force,  and 
was  made  to  cover  all  of  the  people  on  any  given  terri- 
tory without  regard  to  kinship.14    Society  was  divided 
into  two  classes,  those  who  had  forcibly  taken  the 
earth,  and  their  slaves.    The  slaves  were  first  the  cap- 
tives of  wara  and  afterwards  the  slaves  of  their  cap- 
tors, and  were  compelled  to  produce  with  no  direct 
interest  in  the  products  of  their  own  labor..    Labor 
became  the  badge  of  servitude  and  dependence.    The 
laborer  was  disgraced,  discredited,  disinherited  and 
disfranchised— and  the  age-long,  world-wide,  economic 
class  struggle  made  its  beginning. 

52.  Whence  Slavery?— We  are  here  dealing  with 
one  of  the  most  important  facts  of  all  history:  Whence 
came  slavery?   Whence  came  private  property  in  land? 

end  of  Barbarism  is  the  same  time  as  the  beginning  of  Civilization, 
but  I  am  able  to  make  the  relations  of  some  events  as  the  causes  of 
other  events  more  evident  by  speaking  of  them  as  I  have  done. 

14.     Gummere:  Germanic  Origins,  Chapter  IX.;  Morgan:  Ancient 
Society,  Part  II.,  Chapter  XIII. 


52  CLEARING  THE  GROUND  PART! 

It  is  evident  that  the  land  was  the  primary  object  of 
attack,  but  the  occupants,  taken  captive,  were  made 
slaves  and  set  to  work  cultivating  the  land  or  caring 
for  the  herds.  The  land  of  conquered  tribes  was  made 
the  tribal  property  of  the  conquering  tribe,  at  the  same 
time  that  human  beings  were  made  the  tribal  property 
of  the  conquering  tribe. 

53.  The  Hunter  and  the  Soldier.— The  earlier  wars 
had  been  wars  solely  of  defense,  and  the  military  lead- 
er had  not  been  a  very  important  character  within  his 
own  tribe,  where  the  purest  primitive  democracy  pre- 
vailed in  all  matters  within  the  tribe.    It  was  only 
when  war  had  become  an  important  method  of  enrich- 
ing the  tribe  that  the  successful  warrior  came  to  sur- 
pass in  importance  both  the  hunter  and  the  herdsman, 
and  the  mighty  hunter  became  the  builder  of  military 
power.15    It  was  war  which  led  to  the  discovery  that 
it  was  easier  to  steal  cattle  than  to  raise  them,  easier 
to  get  wealth  by  appropriating  the  products  of  others 
than  by  producing  the  wealth  at  home.    Appropriation 
paid  better  and  became  more  honorable  than  produc- 
tion.   Appropriation  became  the  work  of  the  soldier,\ 
production  the  work  of  the  slave.    Even  then  private 
property  in  land  and  slaves  had  not  appeared.    The 
whole  class  of  the  conquerors  appropriated  and  held 
in  common  both  the  lands  and  the  whole  class  of  those 
whom  they  had  made  landless  by  war. 

54.  Robbing  the  Robbers.— But  the  stronger  men, 
who  had  first  privately  appropriated  the  favorite  wom- 
en among  those  who  were  conquered,  and  so  estab- 
lished polygamy,  began  to  use,  for  private  advantage, 
the  tribal  power  to  capture  slaves  and  lands  and  then  to 

15.  "And'Cush  begat  Nimrod:  he  began  to  be  a  mighty  one  in 
the  earth.  He  was  a  mighty  hunter  before  the  Lord:  wherefore  it 
is  said,  like  Nimrod  a  mighty  hunter  before  the  Lord.  And  the  be- 
ginning of  his  Kingdom  was  Babel  and  Erech,  and  Accad,  and  Cal- 
neh,  in  the  land  of  Shinar." — Genesis:  10:8,  9,  10,  11. 


CHAP.  IV        THE  ORDER  OF  PRIMITIVE  PROGRESS  53 

privately  appropriate  the  lands  and  slaves  which  had 
before  been  appropriated  by  their  tribes.  The  vic- 
torious tribes  appropriated  by  war  both  the  lands  and 
the  people  of  the  conquered  tribes,  and  in  so  doing  de- 
veloped the  strong  military  man  who  in  turn  used  the 
military  power,  created  and  formerly  used  in  order  to 
enrich  his  tribe,  now  to  enrich  himself  instead.  War 
between  the  tribes  extended  tribal  power  and  multi- 
plied the  number  of  the  tribal  slaves,  but  these  chief 
warriors  robbed  the  robbers ;  that  is,  they  appropriated 
to  themselves  the  lands  and  slaves  which  their  own 
tribes  were  seeking  to  appropriate  from  other  tribes, 
and  thus  made  the  beginning  in  the  private  ownership 
of  both  land  and  slaves.  And  in  this  manner,  war  be- 
tween the  tribes  seeking  for  a  wider  means  of  support, 
first  made  the  whole  class  of  captives  the  slaves  of 
the  whole  class  of  their  captors.  And  then  the  de- 
velopment of  the  strong  military  man  within  the  tribes 
made  possible  the  private  possession  of  both  the  con- 
quered lands  and  the  conquered  peoples.  And  here  at 
last  private  ownership  of  both  land  and  slaves  is  the 
further  fruit  of  war. 

55.  Subjection  of  Woman.— The  parentage  of  chil- 
dren among  the  master  classes  became  of  great  impor- 
tance, as  fixing  the  descent  of  property,  and  thus  on 
a  property  basis  the  family  was  finally  composed  of 
one  man  and  one  woman  and  their  children  begotten 
together.16  And  here,  also,  the  leisure  class  made  its 
appearance.  The  women,  who  had  been  the  first  in- 
ventors, who  had  both  created  all  primitive  industry 
and  had  long  continued  to  manage  the  industries  they 

16.  "With  the  establishment  of  the  inheritance  of  property  in 
the  children  of  its  owner,  came  the  first  possibility  of  the  monogamian 
family.  Gradually  though  slowly,  this  form  of  marriage,  with  an 
exclusive  cohabitation,  became  the  rule  rather  than  the  exception; 
but  it  was  not  until  civilization  had  commenced  that  it  became  per- 
manently established." — Morgan:  Ancient  Society,  p.  505. 


54  CLEARING  THE  GROUND  PART  I 

had  created— now  became  workers  with  the  slaves,  and 
slaves  with  the  workers,  with  no  voice  in  the  direc- 
tion of  their  own  industry,  but  subject  to  the  slave- 
driver's  lash  along  with  all  other  workers;  either  that, 
or  the  wives  or  the  concubines  of  the  soldiers,  not  to 
be  discredited  by  toil,  but  to  be  guarded  and  impris- 
oned, in  order  that  the  paternity  of  the  child  should 
not  be  in  doubt.  They  were  both  petted  and  ruled, 
both  the  subjects  and  the  playthings  of  their  masters. 

56.  Achievements  of  Primitive  Society.— It  has 
been  claimed  that  the  last  half  century  has  seen  more 
advance  than  all  the  previous  life  of  man.  But  this  is 
not  the  case.  It  would  be  as  true  to  say  that  during 
the  ten  days  of  harvest,  the  fields  yield  more  than 
during  all  the  year  besides.  The  fruits  which  are 
gathered  then  are  the  products  of  all  the  year,  and  of 
all  the  -years  which  have  gone  before.  Live  stock 
breeding,  the  cereals,  houses,  clothes,  machinery,  roads 
and  other  means  of  transportation  and  communica- 
tion—in the  development  of  such  things  as  these,  all 
of  which  had  their  beginnings  in  Barbarism,  the  last 
fifty  years  has  seen  many  very  great  improvements. 
But  the  discovery  of  fire,  the  development  of  speech 
from  the  babble  of  beasts  to  the  language  of  "articu- 
lately-speaking men,"  the  development  of  the  family 
and  the  creation  of  society  on  a  basis  of  fraternity  and 
equality,  all  of  these  and  most  of  the  f ormer  tasks  were 
carried  to  a  high  degree  of  excellence  before  the  com- 
ing of  Civilization  and  all  under  co-operative  labor  and 
the  common  ownership  of  productive  property.  As 
related  to  the  existence,  the  comfort  and  the  liberty  of 
the  race,  the  discovery  of  fire,  the  creation  of  lan- 
guage, the  building  of  the  family,  the  organizing  of 
free  society,— not  one  of  these  has  been  equaled  or 


CHAP.  IV         THE  ORDER  OF  PRIMITIVE  PROGRESS  55 

even  approached  by  any  of  the  great  inventions  of  the 
last  century.17 

57.  Mechanical  Ancestry.— The  modern  steam-plow 
has  grown  up  from  the  crooked  stick  and  ox  team, 
which  in  turn  were  a  vast  improvement  over  the  first 
sharpened  stick  with  which  the  soil  was  turned  and 
which  was  the  common  ancestor  of  all  the  spades,  hoes, 
rakes,  plows  and  harrows  in  existence.  The  modern 
palace  is  the  distant  offspring  of  the  ancient  hovel,  or 
of  the  earliest  nest  or  cave.  Modern  garments  are  the 
children  of  the  ancient  coverings  of  leaves  and  skins, 
as  is  the  modern  loom  the  outgrowth  of  the  simple  de- 
vices used  in  making  the  first  hand-formed  cloth,  made 
from  the  finger-twisted  threads  of  the  earliest  workers 
as  they  watched  the  fires  and  waited  for  the  returning 
fishermen.  The  modern  railway  and  steamship  lines 


17.  "Modern  civilization  recovered  and  absorbed  whatever  was 
valuable  in  the  ancient  civilizations;  and  although  its  contributions 
to  the  sum  of  human  knowledge  have  been  vast,  brilliant  and  rapid, 
they  are  far  from  being  so  disproportionately  large  as  to  overshadow 
the  ancient  civilizations  and  sink  them  into  comparative  insig- 
nificance. 

"The  achievements  of  civilized  man,  although  very  great  and 
remarkable,  are  nevertheless  very  far  from  sufficient  to  eclipse  the 
works  of  man  as  a  barbarian.  As  such  he  had  wrought  out  and 
possessed  all  the  elements  of  civilization,  excepting  alphabetic  writing. 
His  achievements  as  a  barbarian  should  be  considered  in  their  rela- 
tion to  the  sum  of  human  progress;  and  we  may  be  forced  to  admit 
that  they  transcend  in  relative  importance  all  his  subsequent  works. 
The  use  of  writing,  or  its  equivalent,  in  hieroglyphics  upon  stone,  af- 
fords a  fair  test  of  the  commencement  of  civilization." — Morgan:  An- 
cient Society,  pp.  30-31. 

"Man's  intellect  is  ever  the  same — it  moves  in  a  sphere  having 
a  fixed  and  inexpansible  upper  limit,  which  has  been  reached  from 
time  to  time  by  individual  geniuses.  But  there  is  an  apparent  prog- 
ress arising  from  the  fact  that  from  place  to  place  and  time  to  time 
an  intellect  of  equal  power  finds  footing  upon  the  total  accomplish- 
ments of  his  predecessors  and  uses  them  as  the  starting  point  of 
further  successes;  not  that  later  generations  work  with  higher  or 
more  complete  intellects,  but  with  larger  means  accumulated  by  ear- 
lier generations,  with  better  instruments,  so  to  speak,  and  so  ob- 
tain greater  results.  So  it  is  of  course  impossible  to  deny  progress 
in  the  field  of  invention  and  discovery — but  it  would  be  a  mistake 
to  explain  it  from  the  greater  perfection,  or  the  progress  of  the  hu- 
man intellect.  An  inventive  Greek  of  ancient  times,  if  he  had  fol- 
lowed Watt,  would  have  invented  the  locomotive — and  if  he  could 


56  CLEARING  THE  GROUND  PART  I 

are  the  direct  descendants  of  the  old  carrying  trails 
and  the  canoe-riding  carriers  of  the  savage  days.  Both 
the  modern  family  and  the  modern  state  are  the  nat- 
ural and  inevitable  outgrowth  of  the  old  gentes,  which 
were  in  turn  the  children  of  the  groups  of  the  savage 
and  animal  life  which  preceded  the  tribal  organiza- 
tions. 

58.  Brotherhood.— Modern  life  has  wrought  out 
many  things  at  the  hands  of  men.  Primitive  life 
wrought  out  the  coming  of  man  himself,  for  it  was 
during  these  thousand  centuries  of  common  property 
and  society  based  on  kinship— the  kinsmen  acting  co- 
operatively—that the  sentiment  of  brotherhood  with- 
in the  tribes  was  so  wrought  into  the  life  of  the  race 

have  known  the  arrangement  of  the  electrical  telegraph,  it  certainly 
might  have  occurred  to  him  to  construct  a  telephone. 

"Between  human  intellect  four  thousand  years  ago  and  today 
there  is  no  qualitative  difference  nor  any  greater  development  or 
perfection — only  the  completed  labor  of  all  intervening  generations 
inures  to  the  advantage  of  the  modern  intellect,  which,  with  this  ac- 
cumulated supply,  to-day  accomplishes  apparently  greater  'miracles' 
than  the  like  intellect  four  thousand  years  ago  did  without  it.  But, 
in  fact,  laying  aside  the  advantages  of  the  former,  the  latter  accom- 
plished no  less  wonderful  things." — Gumplowicz:  Outlines  of  Sociology, 
pp.  208-9. 

"The  history  of  a  nation's  industry  must  necessarily  date  back 
to  prehistoric  times  and  to  the  earliest  stages  of  national  life.  For 
the  history  of  industry  is  the  history  of  civilization,  and  a  nation's 
economic  development  must,  to  a  large  extent,  underlie  and  influ- 
ence the  course  of  its  social  and  political  progress.  Hence  it  has 
been  aptly  remarked  (Cunningham:  Growth  of  Industry,  I.,  p.  7)  that 
there  is  no  fact  in  a  nation's  history  but  has  some  traceable  bearing 
on  the  industry  of  the  time,  and  no  fact  that  can  be  altogether  ig- 
nored as  if  it  were  unconnected  with  industrial  life.  The  progress 
of  mankind  is  written  in  the  history  of  its  tools'  (Walpole:  Land  of 
of  Home  Rule,  p.  15);  and  to  the  economic  historian  the  transition 
from  the  axehead  of  stone  to  that  of  bronze  is  quite  as  important  as 
a  change  of  dynasty;  and  certainly,  in  its  way,  it  is  as  serious  an 
industrial  revolution  as  the  change  from  the  hand-loom  to  machinery." 
— Gibbins:  Industry  in  England,  p.  3. 

"Human  progress,  from  first  to  last,  has  been  in  a  ratio  not 
rigorously  but  essentially  geometrical.  This  is  plain  on  the  face  of 
the  facts;  and  it  could  not,  theoretically,  have  occurred  in  any  other 
way.  Every  item  of  absolute  knowledge  gained  became  a  factor  in 
further  acquisitions,  until  the  present  complexity  of  knowledge  was 
attained.  Consequently,  while  progress  was  slowest  in  time  in  the 
first  period,  and  most  rapid  in  the  last,  the  relative  amount  may 


CHAP.  IV          THE  ORDER  OF  PRIMITIVE  PROGRESS  57 

that  it  still  survives  five  thousand  years18  of  suffering 
and  oppression  at  the  hands  of  the  anti-social  and  un- 
brotherly  military  power  which  first  transformed  so- 
ciety from  the  basis  of  kinship  and  mutual  interest  into 
that  of  force,  and  then  used  the  force  to  usurp  for  the 
few  the  common  inheritance  of  all. 

59.  Economic  C&ea&G?—  During  Savagery  and  Bar- 
barism there  were  no  economic  classes— there  was  no 
world-wide  class  struggle.  But  at  every  step,  the  eco- 
nomic cause  of  the  new  advance  is  made  evident.19 
Each  new  discovery,  each  new  invention,  meant  new 
life  to  the  world;  and,  using  the  new  economic  agencies, 
the  steps  were  taken  which  still  again  led  to  other  and 
to  other  achievements. 

The  use  of  fire,  the  bow  and  arrow,  the  discovery  of 
pottery,  the  domestication  of  animals,  the  discovery 
of  the  smelting  and  use  of  iron,  and  finally  of  the  al- 

have  been  greatest  in  the  first,  when  the  achievements  of  either 
period  are  considered  in  their  relations  to  the  sum.  It  may  be  sug- 
gested as  not  improbable  of  ultimate  recognition,  that  the  progress 
of  mankind  in  the  period  of  savagery,  in  its  relations  to  the  sum  of 
human  progress,  was  greater  in  degree  than  it  was  afterward  in  the 
three  sub-periods  of  barbarism ;  and  that  the  progress  made  in  the 
whole  period  of  barbarism  was,  in  like  manner,  greater  in  degree  than 
it  has  been  since  in  the  entire  period  of  civilization." — Morgan:  An- 
cient Society,  p.  38. 

18.  "It  must  be  regarded  as  a  marvelous  fact  that  a  portion  of 
mankind  five  thousand  years  ago,  less  or  more,  attained  to  civiliza- 
tion."— Morgan:  Ancient  Society,  p.  553. 

19.  "A  technical  want  felt  by  society  is  more  of  an  impetus  to 
science   than   ten   universities." — Engels    interpreting   the    position   of 
Marx,  quoted  by  Seligman  in  "The  Economic  Interpretation  of  His- 
tory," p.  59. 

"The  stationary  condition  of  the  human  race  is  the  rule,  the 
progressive  the  exception." — Maine:  Ancient  Law,  p.  23. 

"What  I  wish  particularly  to  point  out  is  that  what  man  asks 
from  the  soil  is  primarily  nutrition — only  nutrition,  a  living.  It  is 
the  'food-quest'  which  has  been  so  vividly  portrayed  in  American  prim- 
itive life  by  Mindeleff  and  so  fully  set  forth  by  Mason:  the  tribe  en- 
slaved by  the  soil;  its  laws,  religion,  customs,  hopes,  and  fears 
wrapped  up  and  submerged  in  the  desperate  strife  for  food..  Only 
where  there  is  a  surplus,  where  wealth  rises  above  want,  is  it  possible 
for  the  group  to  free  itself  from  this  bondage  to  the  clod, — to  become 
more  than  'an  adscript  of  the  glebe.' 

"The  relations  between  man  and  the  fauna  and  flora  of  the  re- 


58  CLEARING  THE  GROUND  PART  I 

phabet— these  were  the  creative  forces,  one  after  an- 
other, which  suggested  new  advantages,  in  the  long 
struggle  for  existence,  first  of  individuals,  then  groups, 
then  the  gens,  then  the  phratry,  then  the  nation,  and 
then  a  new  factor  in  the  world's  life,  which  we  shall 
trace  in  these  pages,  the  creation  of  clashing  economic 
classes  and  of  world-conquest  in  order  to  appropriate 
rather  than  to  produce. 

60.  Slaves  and  Soldiers.— A  new  world  of  slaves 
and  soldiers,  struggling  against  each  other,  has  suc- 
ceeded the  old  world  of  tribal  brothers  struggling  for 
each  other.  Barbarism  has  ceased.  Civilization  has 
come.  No  wonder  Carpenter  speaks  of  its  "  cause  and 


cure. ' : 


61.  Summary.— 1.  It  will  be  noticed  from  the  fore- 
going that  from  the  earliest  advance  of  the  race  until 
the  coming  of  Civilization,  co-operative  industry,  com- 
mon property,  and  government  based  on  kinship  and 
not  on  force,  had  covered  the  whole  previous  history  of 
mankind. 

2.  It  is  seen  from  this  study  of  primitive  industry 
that  when  man  came  to  use  the  resources  of  the  earth, 
it  never  occurred  to  him  for  a  thousand  centuries  that 
it  could  belong  to  only  a  portion  of  the  race.  When 
he  did  come  to  that  conclusion,  slavery  and  the  sub- 


gion  has  been  traced  by  Pickering  and  others  in  the  distribution  of 
plants  cultivated  by  man  for  his  food,  use,  or  pleasure.  They  have 
been  rightly  named  by  Gerland  'the  levers  of  his  elevation.'  Especial- 
ly the  cereals  supplied  him  a  regular,  appropriate,  and  sufficient  nu- 
trition. Their  product  was  not  perishable,  like  fruit,  but  could  be 
stored  against  the  season  of  cold  and  want.  Their  cultivation  led 
to  a  sedentary  life,  to  the  clearing  and  tillage  of  the  soil,  to  its  irriga- 
tion, and  to  the  study  of  the  seasons  and  their  changes." — Brinton: 
The  Basis  of  Social  Relations,  p.  190. 

"The  most  advanced  portion  of  the  human  race  were  halted,  so 
to  express  it,  at  certain  stages  of  progress,  until  some  great  inven- 
tion or  discovery,  such  as  the  domestication  of  animals  or  the  smelt- 
ing of  iron  ore,  gave  a  new  and  powerful  impulse  forward." — Morgan: 
Ancient  Society,  pp.  39-40. 


CHAP.  IV.         THE  ORDER  OF  PRIMITIVE  PROGRESS  59 

jection  of  woman  came  along  with  the  private  appro- 
priation of  the  natural  resources. 

3.  Again,  it  will  be  noticed  that  in  his  effort  to 
use  the  earth  and  to  develop  its  resources  as  the  means 
of  his  support,  for  a  like  period,  all  of   the   people 
worked  co-operatively  both  in  the  hunting,  fishing  and 
fighting,  by  the  men,  and  in  the  cultivation  of  the 
soil  and  the  development  of  household  industries,  by 
the  women,  both  of  which  groups  lived  and  worked 
under  practical  industrial  democracies. 

4.  It  is  seen  that  this  common  possession  of  por- 
tions of  the  earth  and  the  co-operative  use  of  this  nat- 
ural working  plant  by  groups  of  kinsmen,  were  both 
destroyed  by  slavery  which  was  established  in  the 
world  by  war,  and  that  the  wars  came  because  of  eco- 
nomic necessity. 

5.  It  was  under  co-operative   labor   and   common 
ownership  of  productive  property  that  the  whole  line 
of  discoveries  and  achievements  were  effected  which 
make  up  the  triumphs  of  primitive  society. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  Name   the   great   periods   of   man's   history   and   mention  the 
particular  events  which  have  marked  the  beginning  of  each. 

2.  What  was  characteristic  of  the  life  of  man  at  the  beginning 
of  Savagery? 

3.  What  was  the  occasion  for  the  first  division  of  labor? 

4.  What  was  the  form  of  the  first  social  organization  and  of  the 
first  family? 

5.  Trace  the  nation  back  through  the  simpler  organizations  out 
of  which  it  has  grown. 

6.  Trace  the  family  in  the  same  manner. 

7.  During  what  periods  did  co-operative  industry  and  the  com- 
mon ownership  of  productive  property  exist,  and  how  were  they  over- 
thrown ? 

8.  What  was  the  relation  of  slavery  to  barbarian  war? 

9.  State  some  of  the  achievements  of  primitive  industry. 

10.  Name  fruits,  grains,  animals  and  tools  in  use  at  the  begin- 
ning of  civilization. 

11.  How  do  the  achievements  of  primitive  society  compare  with 
modern  inventions? 

12.  Whence  came  the  sentiment  of  brotherhood? 

13.  What  things  marked  the  beginning  of  civilization? 


CHAPTEE  V 

SUMMARY  OF  PART  FIRST 

62.  A  Summary  of  Part  First.— 1.  Society  is  di- 
vided into  economic  classes:  One  class  is  composed  of 
masters,  the  other  class  is  composed  of  servants. 

2.  The  basis  of  this  mastery  and  servitude,  and  the 
resulting  dependence   and  poverty  of  the  many  is 
found  in  the  private  ownership  and  private  control  of 
the  means  of  producing  the  means  of  life. 

3.  In  the  study  of  current  institutions,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  look  for  their  origins,  in  the  usages  of  the  ear- 
lier forms  of  social  life. 

4.  This  method  of  investigation  is  the  scientific 
method.    It  is  simply  the  theory  of  evolution  applied 
to  the  study  of  social  and  economic  problems. 

5.  Following  this  method  it  is  found  that,  thus  far, 
in  the  life  of  the  race,  the  world  has  been  so  incom- 
pletely mastered  and  industry  has  been  so  inadequately 
organized,  as  to  require  the  expenditure  of  so  large  a 
share  of  human  energy  in  the  battle  for  life,  that  it  may 
fairly  be  said  that  the  economic  factors  have  been  the 
dominant  factors  in  human  life. 

6.  During  the  primitive  life  of  the  race,  economic 
development  did  not  take  the  form  of  class  struggles. 
Nevertheless,  each  great  advance  in  man's  improve- 

60 


CHAP.  V.  A  SUMMARY  OF  PART  FiRST  61 

ment  during  this  period  was  the  result  of  an  economic 
cause— for  example,  the  discovery  of  the  use  of  fire,  the 
invention  of  the  bow  and  arrow,  the  making  of  pottery, 
the  domestication  of  animals,  the  smelting  of  iron  and 
the  invention  of  the  alphabet,  have  been  seen  to  have 
been  events  of  epoch-making  power  and  importance. 

7.  The  barbarian  inter-tribal  wars  resulted  in  mak- 
ing masters  of  some  tribes  and  slaves  of  others,  and  in 
this  way  made  a  beginning  of  the  economic  class  war. 

8.  Great  advances  were  made  during  savagery  and 
barbarism,  and  throughout  the  many  thousands  of 
years  of  these  periods,  there  were  no  economic  masters 
or  economic  dependents;  government  was  based  on  kin- 
ship and  mutual  interest,  and  both  co-operative  labor 
and  collective  ownership  prevailed  throughout  this 
primitive  life  of  the  race,  and  ceased  only  with  the 
coming  of  slavery  and  the  subjection  of  woman,  both 
of  which  were  caused  by  war. 


PART  1 1 
THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM 


CHAPTER  VI 

SLAVERY 

63.  Evolution.— In  the  study  of  the  evolution  of 
capitalism,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  capitalism, 
in  its  modern  form,  had  its  roots  in  the  life  of  primi- 
tive society.  The  complete  story  of  the  evolution  of 
capitalism  would  involve  the  whole  story,  thus  far, 
of  the  social  development  of  the  race.  Single  effects 
are  not  results  of  single  causes.1  All  social  causes, 
in  proportion  to  their  power,  co-operate  together  in 
the  production  of  all  social  effects.  Each  effect  in  its 

1.  Unfortunately,  few  historians  have  thought  it  worth  while 
to  study  seriously  the  economic  factors  in  the  history  of  nations. 
They  have  contented  themselves  with  the  intrigues  and  amusements 
of  courtiers  and  kings,  the  actions  of  individual  statesmen  or  the 
destructive  feats  of  military  heroes.  They  have  often  failed  to  ex- 
plain properly  the  great  causes  which  necessitated  the  results  they 
claim  to  investigate.  But  just  as  it  is  impossible  to  understand  the 
growth  of  England  without  a  proper  appreciation  of  the  social  and  in- 
dustrial events  which  rendered  that  growth  possible,  and  provided  the 
expenses  which  that  growth  entailed,  so  it  will  be  impossible  to  pro- 
ceed in  the  future  without  a  systematic  study  of  econmic  and  indus- 
trial affairs.  For  the  great  political  questions  of  the  day  are  becom- 
ing more  and  more  economic  questions." — Gibbons:  Industry  in  Eng- 
land, p.  473. 

62 


CHAP.  VI  SLAVERY  63 

turn  becomes  a  social  cause  for  further  social  effects. 
Hence  the  chain  of  the  development  of  capitalism  may 
be  traced  backward  throughout  the  life  of  the  race. 
Nevertheless,  it  can  be  fairly  said  that  the  leading 
features  of  capitalism— that  is,  private  monopoly  in  the 
ownership,  private  tyranny  in  the  management,  and 
inequality  of  opportunity  in  the  use  of  the  means  of 
producing  the  means  of  life— made  their  beginning  in 
the  world  with  the  coming  of  slavery.  But  slavery 
came  as  the  direct  result  of  the  inter-tribal  barbarian 
wars  and  the  military  usurpation  of  the  barbarian 
chieftains,  and  thus  the  seeds  of  capitalism  were  rooted 
in  barbarism.  In  fact,  when  civilization  succeeded  bar- 
barism, the  passion  for  the  ownership  of  things  had  be- 
come the  dominant  passion  of  the  race,2 

64.  The  Struggle  for  Land.— The  permanent  pos- 
session of  the  herds  and  lands  by  the  tribes,  had  be- 
come of  the  most  vital  importance  as  a  means  of  life. 
The  growing  tribes  had  struggled  with  each  other  as 
they  had  trespassed  on  each  other's  territory.3  Inter- 

2.  Morgan:  Ancient  Society  pp.  6,  540. 

3.  "The  first  step  in  the  struggle  of  races  is  that  of  the  con- 
quest of  one  race  by  another.     Among  races  that  have  pushed  their 
boundaries  forward  until  they  meet  and  begin  to  overlap  war  usually 
results.      If   one  race   has   devised    superior   weapons   or   has   greater 
strategic  abilities  than  the  other  it  will  triumph  and  become  a  con- 
quering race.     The  other  race  drops  into  the  position  of  a  conquered 
race.     The  conquering  race  holds  the  conquered  race  down  and  makes 
it  tributary  to  itself.     At  the  lowest  stages  of  this  process  there  was 
practical    extermination    of    the    conquered    race.      The    Hebrews    were 
scarcely  above  this  stage  in  their  wars  upon  the  Canaanites,  but  that 
seems  to  have  been  a  special  outburst  of  savagery  in  a  considerably  ad- 
vanced  race.     The   lowest    savages   are   mostly    cannibals.      After   the 
carnivorous  habit  had  been  formed,  the  eating  of  human  flesh  was  a 
natural  consequence  of  the  struggle  of  the  races.     The  most  primitive 
wars  were  scarcely  more  than  hunts,  in  which  man  was  the  mutual 
game  of  both  contending  parties.     But  at  a  later  and  higher  stage 
head  hunting,   cannibalism,   and   the   extermination  of  the   conquered 
race,  were  gradually  replaced  by  different  forms  of  slavery.     Success 
in  conquering  weaker  races  tended  to  develop  predatory  or  military 
races,  and  the  art  of  organizing  armies  received  special  attention.   Such 
armies  were  at  length  used  to  make  war  on  remote  races,  who  were 
thus  conquered  and  held  under  strong  military  power.     Here  the  con- 
quered would  so  greatly  outnumber  the  conquering  that  extermination 


64  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

tribal  alliances  had  produced  the  nations,  and  great 
armies  were  the  result.  The  chief  men  of  the  tribes, 
as  well  as  of  the  nations,  had  become  important  as 
military  leaders. 

65.  Tribes  Enslaved.— The  conquered  tribes   were 
enslaved  by  the  conquerors.    As  the  victorious  tribes 
extended  their  territory  and  enlarged  their  armies,  the 
maintenance  of  these  armies  involved  great  industrial 
organizations.    The  military  leader  became  not  only 
the  commander  in  battle,  but  also  the  master  of  in- 
dutry.4      The  workers  were  the  tribes  conquered  in 
war  and  then  made  slaves  to  provide  the  support  of 
their  conquerors. 

66.  The  Social  and  the  Military.— The  mutual  rela- 
tions of  the  people  within  the  tribes  became  of  less  im- 
portance than  the  relations  of  all  of  the  people  to 
these  new  inter-tribal  or  national  organizations.    The 

would  be  impracticable.  The  practice  was  then  to  preserve  the  con- 
quered race  and  make  it  tributary  to  the  wealth  of  the  conquering 
race.  Prisoners  of  war  were  enslaved,  but  the  mass  of  the  people  was 
allowed  to  pay  tribute."— Ward :  Pure  Sociology,  pp.  204-205. 

"The  theory  seems  to  be  well  settled  that  this  archaic  form  of 
organization  and  of  collective  land-ownership  by  groups  of  men, 
united  by  the  family  tie,  was  common  to  all  the  races  which  com- 
pose the  Aryan  family.  The  traces  of  such  a  system  have  been  estab- 
lished from  Ireland  to  Hindoostan.  *  *  *  With  the  first  advance 
in  the  path  of  civilization  the  principle  of  collective  land-ownership 
naturally  gave  way  to  individual  ownership.  And  such  has  been  the 
transition  through  which  the  village  community  in  most  countries 
has  passed." — Taylor:  The  Origin  and  Growth  of  the  English  Con- 
stitution, Vol.  I.,  p.  100. 

4.  "The  barbarous  isolation  of  families  ceases  when  the  strongest 
and  most  powerful  force  the  weaker  into  their  service.  It  is  now  that 
the  division  of  labor  [by  classes]  really  begins:  The  victor  devotes 
himself  entirely  to  work  of  a  higher  order,  to  statesmanship,  war, 
worship,  etc.;  the  very  doing  of  which  is  generally  a  pleasure  in  itself. 
The  vanquished  perform  the  lower.  The  one-half  of  the  people  are 
forced  to  labor  for  something  beyond  their  own  brute  wants." — 
Roscher:  Political  Economy,  Vol.  I.,  p.  211. 

"There  is  a  double  life  in  the  state;  we  can  clearly  distinguish 
the  activities  of  the  state  as  a  whole,  as  a  single  structure,  from 
those  emanating  from  the  social  elements. 

"The  activities  of  the  state  as  a  whole  originate  in  the  sov- 
ereign class,  which  acts  with  the  assistance  or  with  the  compulsory 
acquiescence  of  the  subject  class.  *  *  *  In  particular,  the  su- 
perior class  seeks  to  make  the  most  productive  use  of  the  subject 
classes;  as  a  rule  this  leads  to  oppression  and  can  always  be  con- 


CHAP.  VI  SLAVERY  65 

old  relations  had  been  based  on  kinship  and  mutual 
interest,  and  the  affairs  of  the  tribes  had  been  admin- 
istered by  practical  co-operative  democracies.  The 
new  organizations  were  subject  to  military  necessity, 
rather  than  to  the  instincts  of  kinship;  and  the  rela- 
tions of  the  military  organization  extended  to  the 
whole  body  of  the  people  found  on  any  given  territory. 
Before  this  the  life  of  the  world  had  been  made  up 
most  largely  of  social  relations.  The  word  social  is 
derived  from  the  word  * ' societas, ' '  or  "society,"  and 
means— of,  or  pertaining  to,  the  affairs  of  the  whole 
body  of  the  people.  The  people  were  everything,  and 
the  city  did  not  exist.  Whatever  organization  did  ex- 
ist was  solely  for  the  benefit  of  the  people,  and  had 
been  controlled  by  them  through  their  tribal  associa- 
tions. Now  the  city  made  its  appearance,  and  the  city 


sidered  as  exploitation." — Gumplowicz:  Outlines  of  Sociology,  pp. 
116-17. 

"There  have  been  three  ways  in  which  great  political  bodies 
have  arisen.  The  earliest  and  lowest  method  was  that  of  conquest 
without  incorporation.  A  single  powerful  tribe  conquered  and  an- 
nexed its  neighbors  without  admitting  them  to  a  share  in  the  gov- 
ernment. It  appropriated  their  military  strength,  robbed  them  of 
most  of  the  fruits  of  their  labor,  and  thus  virtually  enslaved  them. 
Such  was  the  origin  of  the  great  despotic  empires  of  Oriental  type. 
Such  states  degenerate  rapidly  in  military  strength.  Their  slavish 
populations  accustomed  to  be  starved  and  eaten  or  massacred  by  the 
tax-gatherers,  become  unable  to  fight,  so  that  great  armies  of  them  will 
flee  before  a  handful  of  freemen,  as  in  the  case  of  the  ancient  Per- 
sians and  the  modern  Egyptians.  To  strike  down  the  executive  head 
of  such  an  assemblage  of  enslaved  tribes  is  to  effect  the  conquest  or 
the  dissolution  of  the  whole  mass,  and  hence  the  history  of  Eastern 
peoples  has  been  characterized  by  sudden  and  gigantic  revolutions. 

"The  second  method  of  forming  great  political  bodies  was  that  of 
conquest  with  incorporation.  The  conquering  tribe,  while  annexing 
its  neighbors,  gradually  admitted  them  to  a  share  in  the  govern- 
ment. In  this  way  arose  the  Roman  empire,  the  largest,  the  most 
stable,  and  in  its  best  days  the  most  pacific  political  aggregate  the 
world  has  yet  seen.  Throughout  the  best  part  of  Europe  its  con- 
quests succeeded  in  transforming  the  ancient  predatory  type  of  so- 
ciety into  the  modern  industrial  type.  It  effectually  broke  up  the  prim- 
eval clan- system,  with  its  narrow  ethical  ideas,  and  arrived  at  the 
broad  conception  of  rights  and  duties  coextensive  with  humanity.  But 
in  the  method  upon  which  Rome  proceeded  there  .was  an  essential  ele- 
ment of  weakness.  The  simple .  device  of  representation  by  which  po- 
litical power  is  equally  retained  in  all  parts  of  the  community  while 


66  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

was  everything  and  the  people  were  nothing.  The  old 
city  was  a  fortified  place.  It  was  sometimes  entirely 
without  population,  but  it  was  a  walled  city,  with  or 
without  population,  ready  to  be  occupied  and  to  be 
used  in  case  of  need  for  military  purposes.5 

67.  The  City— Politics  and  Militarism,— The  orig- 
inal city  was  a  military  affair  and  the  original  poli- 
tics had  to  do  with  the  affairs  of  a  military  establish- 
ment. The  word  "  politics "  is  derived  from  the  word 
"polls,"  which  is  the  Greek  word  for  "city,"  and  the 
city  from  which  the  meaning  of  "politics"  was  orig- 
inally taken,  was  a  fortified  place.  Society,  based  orig- 
inally on  the  purpose  of  providing  for  the  welfare  of 
the  whole  people,  gave  way  to  the  state,  based  on  the 
military  necessities  of  the  fortified  cities.  The  admin- 
istration of  public  affairs  was  no  longer  democratic, 
but  military.  The  activities  of  the  state  were  two-fold, 
at  home  and  abroad.  At  home  its  activities  were  in- 
dustrial, abroad  they  were  military.  Away  from  home, 
the  state  acted  through  a  soldier.  At  home,  the  state 

its  exercise  is  delegated  to  a  central  body,  was  entirely  unknown  to 
the  Romans.  Partly  for  this  reason,  and  partly  because  of  the  ter- 
rible military  pressure  to  which  the  frontier  was  perpetually  ex- 
posed, the  Roman  government  became  a  despotism  which  gradually 
took  on  many  of  the  vices  of  the  Oriental  type.  The  political  weakness 
which  resulted  from  this  allowed  Europe  to  be  overrun  by  peoples  or- 
ganized in  clans  and  tribes  and  for  some  time  there  was  a  partial  retro- 
gression toward  the  disorder  characteristic  of  primitive  ages.  The 
retrogression  was  but  partial  and  temporary,  however;  the  exposed 
frontier  has  been  steadily  pushed  eastward  into  the  heart  of  Asia ; 
the  industrial  type  of  society  is  no  longer  menaced  by  the  predatory 
type;  the  primeval  clan-system  has  entirely  disappeared  as  a  social 
force;  and  warfare,  once  ubiquitous  and  chronic,  has  become  local 
and  occasional. 

"The  third  and  highest  method  of  forming  great  political  bodies 
is  that  of  federation.  The  element  of  fighting  was  essential  in  the  two 
lower  methods,  but  in  this  it  is  not  essential.  Here  there  is  no  con- 
quest, but  a  voluntary  union  of  small  political  groups  into  a  great 
political  group.  Each  little  group  preserves  its  local  independence 
intact,  while  forming  part  of  an  indissoluble  whole.  Obviously  this 
method  of  political  union  requires  both  high  intelligence  and  high 
ethical  development." — Fiske:  The  Destiny  of  Man,  pp.  86-90.  See  also 
Fiske :  American  Political  Ideas. 

5.     Kitto:    Vol.  II.,  p.  868. 


CHAP.  VI  SLAVERY  (>/ 

acted  by  means  of  a  slave,  whose  obedience  and  in- 
dustry were  enforced  by  a  soldier.  The  military  or- 
ganization and  the  military  spirit  commanded  both 
the  soldier  and  the  slave,  and  in  both  cases  the  motive 
for  action  was  no  longer  for  the  common  good  of  all, 
but  the  purpose  now  was  to  strengthen  and  support 
the  military  establishment.  The  great  cities  of  the 
ancient  world  were  simply  military  camps  and  slave 
camps  combined.6 

68.  Conquered  Tribes   and  Private   Lands.— The 
employment  of  these  slaves  for  this  purpose  also  in- 
volved the  use  of  great  tracts  of  land,  and  the  same 
military  power  which  had    enslaved    the    conquered 
tribes  took— also  by  the  same  power  of  war— the  lands 
along  with  the  people.    It  has  been  seen  how  the  land 
was  made  the  personal  estates  of  the  military  leaders, 
and  how  the  territorial  extension  of  the  early  states 
was  affected  by  the  inter-tribal  alliances,  which  in- 
creased the  number  of  soldiers;  and  the  inter- tribal 
wars,  which  both  increased  the  slave  populations  and 
the  great  privately  owned  landed  estates. 

69.  Not  the  Oldest  Form  of  Labor.— All  of  the  an- 
cient civilizations  were  built  on  slavery.    This  fact  has 
led  to  the  general  impression  that  slavery  was  the  old- 

6.  "From  the  moment  that  private  possession  in  the  means  of 
production  arose,  exploitation  and  the  division  of  society  into  two 
hostile  classes,  standing  opposed  to  each  other  through  their  inter- 
est, also  began." — Liebknecht:  Socialism — What  It  Is,  and  What  It 
Seeks  to  Accomplish,"  p.  39. 

"It  is  well  understood  by  historical  students  that  ancient  slavery 
was  a  great  step  in  human  progress.  But,  whatever  its  merits,  the 
consideration  of  slavery  introduces  a  much  larger  subject — the  place 
of  class  relations  in  social  development  as  a  whole.  In  its  material 
aspect,  property  in  men  is  an  institution  by  means  of  which  one 
class  of  people  appropriates  the  labor  products  of  another  class 
without  economic  repayment.  This  relation  is  brought  about  by  other 
institutions  than  slavery.  For  instance,  if  a  class  engross  the  land 
of  a  country,  and  force  the  remainder  of  the  population  to  pay  rent, 
either  in  kind  or  in  money,  for  the  use  of  the  soil,  such  a  procedure 
issues,  like  slavery,  in  the  absorption  of  labor  products  by  an  upper 
class  without  economic  repayment. 

"We  have  observed  the  origin  of  social  cleavage  into  upper  and 


68  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

est  and  original  form  of  industry.  It  was  seen  in  the 
preceding  chapters  that  such  was  not  the  case.  Slavery 
was  not  a  relic  of  barbarism.  There  is  no  evidence 
that  slavery  was  an  institution  of  primitive  life.  On 
the  contrary,  evidence  that  it  did  not  exist  until  the 
closing  years  of  barbarism  and  the  beginning  of  civil- 
ization, is  overwhelming.  It  is  important  that  these 
points  be  borne  in  mind. 

70.  We  can  afford  to  dwell  on  this  matter  at  some 
length.    It  has  an  important  bearing  on  the  develop- 
ment and  on  the  relations  of  all  social  and  industrial 
institutions. 

It  is  held,  then,  that  chattel  slavery  did  not  exist 
prior  to  the  beginning  of  civilization,  in  fact,  that  the 
beginning  of  civilization  is  especially  marked  by  the 
beginning  of  slavery.  And  this  is  held  to  be  the  case 
for  the  following  reasons : 

71.  Traditions.— 1.    The  usages  and  traditions  of 
the  Germanic  tribes  all  imply  the  prevalence  of  liberty. 
Chattel  slavery  had  no  existence  among  them.     The 
men  sold  into  slavery  as  the  result  of  Eoman  conquest, 
were  captives  from  among  the  freemen  of  the  fields 
and  forests  of  the  North.    The  had  to  be  made  slaves 
after  they  had  been  made  captives.7 

72.  Roman    Law.— 2.    According    to    the    Eoman 
law  all  men  were  assumed  to  have  been  free  by  the 
laws  of  nature,  and  slaves  to  have  become  such  only  by 
the  contrary  law  of  nations,  that  is,  by  conquest.  There 
is  no  other  reasonable  explanation  of  this  Roman  in- 
terpretation of  nature— so  directly   in    conflict    with 
their  own  national  law,  then  in  force— than  that  it  was 

lower  strata,  on  this  general  basis  at  the  inception  of  social  develop- 
ment. If  we  scrutinize  the  field  carefully,  it  is  evident  that  one  of 
the  greatest  and  most  far-reaching  facts  of  ancient  civilization,  as 
it  emerges  from  the  darkness  of  prehistoric  times,  as  well  as  one  of 
the  most  considerable  facts  of  subsequent  history  is  just  this  cleav- 
age of  society  into  two  principal  classes." — Wallis:  American  Jour- 
nal of  Sociology,  Vol.  VII.,  pp.  764-65,  May.,  1902. 

7.     Guizot:     History  of  Civilization    (Lectures).  Chapter  II. 


CHAP.  VI  SLAVERY  69 

a  survival  by  tradition  of  a  preceding  condition  in 
which  all  men  were  free.8 

73.  Primitive  Democracies.— 3.     Slavery  nowhere 
originated  by  the  tribes  making  slaves  of  their  own 
members.    The  Theocracy  of  the  Jews,  the  Republic  of 
the  Eomans,  and  the  Democracies  of  the  Greeks,  were 
survivals  within  these  ancient  tribes  of  the  original 
democracies  which,  until  destroyed  by  war,  existed 
among  all  primitive  peoples.  Primitive  tribal  lines  had 
to  be  broken  down  before  slavery  could  exist.    They 
were  broken  down  by  war  and  at  the  beginning  of  civil- 
ization. The  early  Hebrew  scriptures  mark  the  passage 
of  the  Jews  from  barbarism  into  civilization.     It  is 
quite  commonly  supposed    that    the    compromise    of 
Moses  on  the  subject  of  slavery  was  a  compromise 
with  an  old  abuse.    The  contrary  is  the  fact.    It  was  a 
compromise  of  barbarian  liberty  with  new  conditions. 
And  even  then,  the  members  of  the  tribes  were  for- 
bidden to  make  slaves  of  the  members  of  their  own 
race.9 

The  Mosaic  land  system  was,  in  the  same  way,  a 
survival,  modifying  the  early  horrors  of  the  private 
appropriation  of  the  earth.  It  was  not  a  new  idea 
specially  provided  and  devised  to  make  right  old 
wrongs.  It  was  a  direct  inheritance  of  barbarian 
usage  outliving  barbarism  and,  with  a  religious  sanc- 
tion, vainly  striving  to  control  the  economic  conditions 
of  a  new  era. 

74.  Old  Words  for  Slave.— 4.  Among  the  Greeks, 
the  word  slave  is  also  the  word  for  captive,  and  in 
reading  in  the  Greek  language  one  can  tell  whether  a 
slave  or  a  captive  is  referred  to  only  by  the  relations 
of  this  word  to  other  words  in  the  same  passage.    The 
word  slave  itself  indicates  the  origin  of  slavery.    It 

8.  "By  natural  right  all  men  are  born  free;  by  right  of  nations 
(i.  e.,  conquest)    slavery  has  come    in." — Justinian    Code,    Book    IV., 
L.,  XVII.,  52. 

9.  "If  thy  brother,  an  Hebrew  man  or    an    Hebrew    woman,  be 


70  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

comes  from  the  old  word  Slav,  a  member  of  the  Sla- 
vonic race.  Southern  European  wars  were  making  cap- 
tives,—and  so  slaves,— of  so  many  Slavs,  or  members 
of  Slavonic  tribes,  that  the  tribal  name  of  the  captives 
staid  with  them  in  bondage  and  finally  became  the 
name  applied  to  all  bondmen,  regardless  of  their  na- 
tionality.10 

If  the  ancient  tribes  made  slaves  only  of  captives, 
if  the  members  of  their  own  tribes  were  exempt— then 
it  is  clear  that  the  beginning  of  conquest  was  the  be- 
ginning of  slavery.  But  the  beginning  of  conquest  was 
the  beginning  of  civilization. 

75.  Primitive  Burials.— 5.     Under  slavery  indus- 
try is  discredited.    The  primitive  peoples  buried  with 
their  dead  the  tools  of  their  simple  industry.11    Things 
so  buried  with  the  dead  were  marks  of  honor.    Under 
slavery  they  would  have  been    marks    of    disgrace. 
Either    primitive    peoples  studied  to    discredit  their 
dead,  or  slavery  did  not  exist. 

Who  would  think  of  burying  with  the  remains  of  a 
departed  relative,  who  had  been  imprisoned,  the 
striped  clothes  or  the  handcuffs— in  order  to  extend 
the  evil  record  to  the  tomb!  Either  primitive  peoples 
thus  treated  their  own  dead,  or  slavery  did  not  exist. 

76.  Indians  Without  Slaves.— 6.     Savages,   whose 
condition  of    advance    toward    civilization    has    not 
reached  that  point  which  had  been  reached  by  the  an- 
cient peoples  when  slavery  is  known  to  have  existed 
among  them,  do  not  now  have  slaves,  except  as  they 
have  copied  the  system  from  their  civilized  neighbors. 
The  American  Indians  did  not  maintain  any  system  of 

sold  unto  thee,  and  serve  thee  six  years,  then  in  the  seventh  year 
thou  shalt  let  him  go  free  from  thee.  And  when  thou  lettest  him 
go  free  from  thee,  thou  shalt  not  let  him  go  empty:  thou  shalt  fur- 
nish him  liberally  out  of  thy  flock,  and  out  of  thy  threshing-floor  and 
out  of  thy  winepress:  as  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  blessed  thee  thou 
shalt  give  unto  him." — Deuteronomy,  Chapter  XV.,  12-15. 

10.  Ingram:  History  of  Slavery,  p.  5. 

11.  Morgan:    Ancient   Society. 


CHAP.  VI  SLAVERY  71 

slavery  among  themselves,  and  they  doggedly  died 
when  forced  into  slavery  rather  than  submit  to  the  loss 
of  their  barbarian  liberty.12  The  Indians  of  the  In- 
dian Territory  copied  the  institution  of  black  slavery 
from  their  white  neighbors.  And  when  the  whole 
country  was  reorganized  politically  on  the  question  of 
the  disposition  of  the  western  public  lands,  the  Indians 
of  that  territory  were  divided  along  the  same  lines  as 
their  white  neighbors.  It  is  an  interesting  thing  to 
note  that  when  the  war  was  over,  the  Indians  who  had 
sided  with  the  North  sought  to  have  their  tribes  dis- 
own those  who  had  served  with  Confederate  troops 
and  so  exclude  them  from  any  interest  in  the  tribal 
lands.  The  United  States  government  appointed  a 
special  commission  to  investigate  the  matter,  and  the 
commission  not  only  recommended  the  government  to 
maintain  the  tribal  rights  of  those  who  had  been  south- 
ern troops,  but  it  went  further  and  insisted  that  the 
negroes,  who  before  the  war  had  been  the  slaves  of 
the  Indians,  were  also  entitled  to  full  tribal  rights  and 
hence  to  their  share  of  the  tribal  property.  The  gov- 
ernment adopted  the  recommendation  and  enforced 
that  arrangement.  But  that  was  among  the  Indians. 
In  no  other  portion  of  the  country  were  property 
rights  of  the  emancipated  negroes,  in  the  social  val- 
ues of  the  community,  recognized. 

77.  Negroes  Not  Originally  in  Slavery.— The  Afri- 
can negroes,  who  were  sold  into  slavery  in  Africa  by 
the  victorious  tribes  or  by  their  military  masters,  were 
not  slaves  in  Africa.  They  were  free  barbarians,  or 

12.  "To  the  barbarian  of  the  lower  stage  a  slave  was  of  no  use. 
The  American  Indians  therefore,  treated  their  vanquished  enemies 
in  quite  a  different  way  from  nations  of  a  higher  stage.  The  men 
were  tortured  or  adopted  as  brothers  into  the  tribe  of  the  victors. 
The  women  were  married  or  likewise  adopted  with  their  surviving 
children.  The  human  labor  power  at  this  stage  does  not  yet  pro- 
duce a  considerable  amount  over  and  above  its  cost  of  subsistence. 
But  the  introduction  of  cattle  raising,  metal  industry,  weaving,  and 
finally  agriculture  wrought  a  change.  Just  as  the  once  easily  ob- 


72  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

savages.  So  determined  were  they  not  to  become 
slaves  that  some  thirty  per  cent,  of  all  the  negro  cap- 
tives died  in  the  process  of  being  forced  into  slavery, 
not  by  barbarians  or  savages,  but  by  the  most  highly 
civilized  countries  in  the  world.  And  so  it  is  seen  that 
slavery  was  distinctly  an  institution  of  civilization. 

For  four  thousand  years,  whatever  portion  of  the 
earth  was  civilized,  was  fed  and  clothed  by  slaves. 
During  all  this  time  the  barbarian  was  a  freeman,  ex- 
cept as  captured  and  forced  into  slavery  by  his  civil- 
ized neigbors,  or  except  as  he  advanced  toward  civil- 
isation and  began  the  development  of  slavery  through 
inter-tribal  wars  after  the  same  manner  as  slavery  had 
at  the  first  been  established  among  the  nations  already 
civilized.  Egypt,  Persia,  Greece,  Carthage  and  Eome 
were  all  of  them  military  creations,  and  the  whole  life 
of  these  ancient  peoples  was  made  brutal  and  corrupt, 
not  by  slavery  alone,  but  by  the  armies  which  com- 
pelled the  slaves  to  build  the  rude  camps  for  those  who 
toiled  and  the  thrones  and  palaces  for  those  who  killed. 

78.  Cruelties.— It  is  not  necessary— and  it  would 
be  impossible— to  state  the  horrors  of  these  long  cen- 
turies of  bondage.  Men,  women  and  children,  philoso- 
phers, poets,  artists,  statesmen,  the  wisest  and  bravest 
of  men,  were  condemned  to  slavery  by  men  of  their 
own  race— and  frequently  in  every  way  their  inferiors13 
—and  held  in  bondage,  where  they  were  chained  to- 
gether in  gangs  and  flogged  to  their  tasks  without 
mercy  and  slain  without  redress.  The  slave  had  lost 
all  rights  in  war,  so  it  was  held,  before  he  was  made  a 

tainable  wives  now  had  an  exchange  value  and  were  bought,  so 
labor  power  was  now  procured,  especially  since  the  flocks  had  definite- 
ly become  private  property.  The  family  did  not  increase  as  rapidly 
as  the  cattle.  More  people  were  needed  for  superintending;  for  this 
purpose  the  captured  enemy  was  available,  and,  besides,  he  could 
be  increased  by  breeding  like  the  cattle." — Engels :  Origin  of  the  Family, 
p.  67. 

13.     "So  in  the  midst  of  the  magnificence  of  the  Roman  power, 
we  perceive  only  a  confused  mass  of  proletaires,  enslaved,   free,   do- 


CHAP.  VI  SLAVERY  73 

slave  in  the  first  place.  And  hence  the  masters  held 
the  power  of  life  and  death,  the  power  to  compel  all 
degrees  of  suffering  and  all  manner  of  degradation, 
the  power  to  enforce  unwilling  and  unmentionable  de- 
bauchery. The  innocence  of  childhood,  the  helpless- 
ness of  those  outworn  with  toil  and  with  the  years,  the 
enforced  nakedness  and  debauchery  of  women,  every 
faculty  and  function  of  whose  bodies  were  held  as  the 
property  of  others;  strong  men  compelled  to  slay  each 
other  for  the  entertainment  of  seeing  them  die  together 
—these  were  the  toys  with  which  brutality  and  lust 
amused  themselves  for  'forty  centuries. 

79.  Products  of  Slave  Labor.— The  cities,  palaces 
and  pyramids  of  Egypt,  the  hanging  gardens  and  the 
wide  and  endless  walls  of  Babylon,  the  temples,  the 
harbors,  the  ships  and  markets  of  Greece,  the  stone 
roads  which  traversed  all  lands  of   the  then   known 
world,  the  fortresses,  the  camps,  the  villas  and  the 
mines,  the  pavements,  waterways,  coliseums  and  the 
fields  and  the  vineyards  of  Rome,  and  across  the  Medi- 
terranean and  in  Spain,  the  works  of  Rome's  greatest 
rival,  Carthage,— all  were  the  products  of  the  toil  of 
slaves. 

80.  Slavery    in    the    United    States.— Something 
ought  to  be  said  about   slavery  and   serfdom  in  the 
United  States.    The  old  slavery,  which  made  slaves  or 
serfs  of  many  of  the  ancestry  of  the  people  who  finally 
became  the  settlers  of  this  country,  had  practically  dis- 
appeared when  the  enslavement  of  the  black  man  was 
undertaken  in  Europe.    It  was  never  able  to  make  any 
headway  in  the  old  country,  where  wage  labor  could 
be  secured  on  such  terms  as  always  made  the  labor  of 

mestic  and  artisan,  who  work  to  furnish  supplies  for  the  unproductive 
consumption  of  the  great  owners  of  capital  and  of  lands.  The  liberal 
arts,  so  glorious  and  so  noble,  are  abandoned  to  servile  hands;  medi- 
cine even  is  practiced  only  by  slaves." — Blanqui:  History  of  Political 
Economy,  p.  57. 

(On  page  83,  same  work,  Blanqui  speaks  of  "ancient  civilization, 
wholly  founded  on  slavery.") 


74  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

the  black  slave  unprofitable.  The  cotton,  sugar  and 
tobacco  plantations  of  the  new  world,  however,  fur- 
nished an  opening  where  labor  was  so  scarce  and  the 
profits  were  so  great  that  the  black  slave  worker  could 
be  maintained  at  a  profit  for  his  master;  and  so,  in 
countries  producing  these  things,  the  slavery  of  a  sub- 
ject race  outlived  the  institution  of  slavery  in  other 
countries  where  wage  workers  were  numerous,  and  the 
opportunities  for  production  limited  to  the  usual  em- 
ployments.14 It  is  needless  to  argue  that  the  black 
man  would  always  have  worked  better  for  wages.  The 
fact  is,  that  he  could  not  have  been  obtained  for  pay 
at  any  price.  The  destruction  of  his  liberty  was  the 
sole  condition  on  which  he  could  be  secured  at  all. 
When  force  no  longer  kidnaped  and  compelled  the 
African  to  become  a  worker,  civilization  had  no  re- 
ward by  which  he  could  be  induced  to  accept  what  the 
employer  could  give  in  exchange  for  his  African  life. 
Immigration  continued  from  civilized  Europe,  not 
from  barbarian  Africa. 

81.  Destroyed  by  War— Wage  System  Pays  Better. 
—Negro  chattel  slavery  was  incidentally  destroyed  by 
the  war  to  preserve  the  Union.  The  former  masters 
have  acquiesced  in  this,  because,  with  the  black  man 
once  in  the  mill  which  civilization  provides,  it  is  found 
on  actual  experience  that  he  will  produce  so  much  for 
so  little  pay,  that  it  is  more  profitable  to  hire  him  than 
to  own  him  outright.  It  was  for  this  reason  that  slav- 
ery died  without  a  struggle  in  all  of  the  old  northern 
states.  It  is  of  the  greatest  interest  to  follow  the  aban- 
donment of  slavery  in  these  states.  Slavery  had  for- 

14.  "The  planting  of  sugar  and  tobacco  can  afford  the  expense  of 
slave  cultivation.  The  raising  of  corn,  it  seems,  in  the  present  times, 
cannot.  In  the  English  colonies,  in  which  the  principal  produce  is 
corn,  the  far  greater  part  of  the  work  is  done  by  freemen. 
In  our  sugar  colonies  the  whole  work  is  done  by  slaves." — Adam 
Smith:  Wealth  of  Nations,  Book  III.,  Chapter  2.  Published  in  1776. 
This  is  of  special  value  as  giving  the  convictions  of  the  students  of 


CHAP.  VI  SLAVERY  75 

merly  existed  throughout  the  North.  Not  only  were 
black  men  held  as  chattels,  but  white  men  as  well.  In 
fact,  white  slavery  was  already  in  existence  in  the 
colonies  when  the  Dutch  traders  disposed  of  their  first 
cargo  of  blacks  in  Virginia.  And  the  king  of  England 
is  known  to  have  been  a  party  to  the  capturing  by  press 
gangs,  of  his  own  good  English  subjects,  and  winking 
at  their  sale  into  slavery  in  the  colonies. 

82.  White  Slavery  in  America.— The  beginning  of 
black  slavery  was  made  in  1620,  but  the  first  black 
slaves  were  set  to  work  in  America  as  the  fellow- 
workers  of  white  men  already  in  slavery  on  the  black 
man's  arrival.15  The  impossibility  of  carrying  on 
profitable  slave  plantations,  and  the  rise  in  manufac- 
tures in  the  northern  states  greatly  increased  the 
number  of  European  immigrants  into  those  states.  As 
soon  as  the  hired  worker  was  found  to  be  more  profit- 
able than  the  slave  laborer,  the  black  men  were  "sold 
South"  or  given  their  liberty.  White  slavery  does 
not  seem  to  have  survived  the  Eevolutionary  War.  In 
fact,  a  large  share  of  the  white  men  sold  into  American 
slavery,  were  men  taken  from  the  prisons  of  England; 

these  matters  when  slavery  was  still  in  force.  The  invention  of  the 
cotton  gin  afterwards  added  cotton  to  the  list  of  employments  where 
slaves  could  be  supported  by  the  products  of  slave  labor  and  leave  a 
considerable  surplus  to  be  used  or  wasted  by  their  masters. 

15.  "In  the  early  days  of  Virginia  and  Maryland  the  slave  was 
usually  not  a  negro,  but  an  Englishman,  condemned  either  penally 
or  by  contract  to  a  limited  period  of  bondage.  As  far  as  we  can 
ju4ge  from  the  scanty  and  scattered  records  at  our  command,  the 
condition  and  character  of  the  indented  servant  underwent  a  marked 
change  during  the  sevententh  century,  and  a  change  for  the  worse. 
At  the  outset  this  class  was  supplied  from  two  sources.  A  few  were 
felons,  usually  those  with  whom  capital  punishment  had  been  com- 
muted to  colonial  servitude.  The  cases,  however,  do  not  seem  to  have 
been  numerous,  and  probably  had  but  little  effect  on  the  general  char- 
acter of  the  population.  The  bulk  of  the  indented  servants  in  Vir- 
ginia were  laborers  who  bound  themselves  for  a  fixed  term  of  service 
with  a  certainty  of  becoming  small  freeholders  at  the  end  of  that 
period.  Gradually  the  system  changed.  The  great  tobacco  plantations 
of  Virginia  needed  a  larger  servile  population  than  could  be  provided 
by  the  chance  supply  of  pardoned  criminals.  Nor  were  the  ultimate 
prospects  of  an  indented  servant  such  as  to  attract  free  laborers  in 


76  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  11 

and  after  the  Revolution,  England  established  her  penal 
colonies  elsewhere.  In  the  meantime,  it  had  be- 
come more  profitable  in  this  country  to  hire  than  to 
own  the  white  man's  labor. 

83.  Selling  Negroes  to  Themselves.— It  is  a  striking 
comment  on  the  giving  of  liberty  to  the  black  men  in 
the  North,  that  the  " manumission"  papers  which  gave 
to  any  particular  black  man  his  liberty,  usually  speci- 
fied that  it  was  done  in  consideration  of  long  and  faith- 
ful service,  and  the  further  consideration  of  the  pay- 
ment to  the  former  master  by  the  freedman  of  a  sum 
which  in  every  three  years  amounted  to  more  than  the 
negro's  market  value.  It  was  further  provided  in 
these  papers,  that  in  default  of  any  of  these  payments, 
these  papers  should  become  void  and  the  negro  return 
to  his  former  master  and  to  his  previous  condition  of 
servitude.  So  it  is  seen  that  the  negro  usually  secured 
his  liberty  by  making  his  liberty  more  profitable  to 
his  master  than  had  been  his  servitude.  Formerly  the 

any  number.  The  market  was  indeed  partly  furnished  by  political 
prisoners.  There  were  few  ages  of  English  history  in  which  this  re- 
source would  have  insured  so  constant  a  supply  as  in  the  latter  half  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  Penruddock's  attempt  against  the  Common- 
wealth in  1655,  the  Scotch  rebellion  in  1666,  the  rising  of  th  West  un- 
der Monmouth,  the  Jacobite  insurrection  in  1715,  each  furnished  its 
share  of  prisoners  to  the  colonies.  But  the  demand  was  far  in  ex- 
cess of  such  precarious  aids,  and,  as  might  have  been  expected,  it  soon 
produced  a  regular  and  organized  supply.  It  became  a  trade  to  fur- 
nish the  plantations  with  servile  labor  drawn  from  the  off-scourings 
of  the  mother  country. 

"When  the  Colonial  Board  came  into  being  in  1661,  not  the  least 
important '  of  its  duties  was  the  control  of  the  trade  in  indented 
servants.  In  that  year  a  committee  was  appointed  to  consider  the 
best  means  of  furnishing  labor  to  the  plantations  by  authorizing  con- 
tractors to  transport  criminals,  beggars,  and  vagrants.  More  im- 
portant than  the  encouragement  of  this  trade  was  the  control  and  di- 
rection of  it.  The  evils  of  the  system  were  two-fold.  On  the  one 
hand,  the  young,  the  inexperienced  and  the  friendless  were  at  the 
mercy  of  the  kidnapers'  'spirits/  as  they  were  called,  who  forced  or 
beguiled  them  on  shipboard  and  transported  them  to  the  colonial 
market.  Children  and  apprentices  were  stolen.  All  those,  and  in  a 
lawless  age  such  as  this  was,  there  were  many,  of  whom  profligacy, 
cupidity,  or  malevolence  would  fain  rid  themselves,  were  in  danger 
of  being  consigned  to  a  life  which  left  small  chances  of  discovery  or 
or  escape.  *  *  *  Nor  was  this  the  only  danger  of  the  system. 


CHAP.  VI  SLAVERY  77 

master  had  provided  food,  clothing  and  shelter  all  the 
year  round  for  his  slave;  and  the  master  was  obliged 
to  provide  and  manage  the  industry  which  made  pos- 
sible the  employment  of  his  slave.  But  under  this 
contract  manumission  arrangement,  the  master  escaped 
all  responsibility.  The  negro  was  obliged  to  look  for 
some  one  who  could  use  his  labor  to  an  advantage, 
and  after  keeping  for  himself  the  scantiest  subsistence, 
turn  the  balance  of  his  earnings  over  to  his  master  for 
the  privilege  of  being  a  free  man,  that  is,  for  the  privi- 
lege of  looking  for  a  new  master.  He  was  not  given 
such  liberty  as  enabled  him  to  keep  for  himself  the 
products  of  his  own  labor  any  more  than  while  in  out- 
right slavery. 

84.  The  Slave-Dealing  North.— The  share  which 
the  North  had  in  establishing  southern  slavery  ought 
also  to  be  mentioned.  Here  is  a  sample  of  the  circle 
completed  by  an  ordinary  New  England  business 

transaction  in  the  earlier  days.    Lumber  and  fish  were 

» 

The  Bristol  slave  ships  served  not  only  as  a  prison  for  the  innocent, 
but  as  a  refuge  for  the  guilty.  Runaway  apprentices,  faithless  hus- 
bands and  wives,  fugitive  thieves  and  murderers,  were  enabled  to  es- 
cape beyond  the  reach  of  civil  or  criminal  justice.  The  system  how- 
ever, was  yet  too  necessary  to  be  given  up.  The  statesmen  of 
Charles  I's  reign  betook  themselves  with  energy  to  the  problems  of 
Colonial  government.  The  question  of  slavery  was  perhaps  the  most 
difficult  that  came  before  them,  and  they  met  it  with  judgment,  and, 
it  would  seem,  with  fair  success.  *  *  *  The  evil  still  went  on, 
as  we  learn  from  the  records  of  the  next  reign.  *  *  *  We  read, 
too,  how  the  magistrates  of  Bristol  drove  a  thriving  trade  by  con- 
demning criminals  and  transferring  them  as  articles  of  merchandise 
from  one  to  another.  *  *  *  The  publicity  thus  given  to  the  mat- 
ter may  have  brought  the  Order  of  Council  in  March,  1686,  directed  alike 
against  kidnapers  and  fraudulent  servants.  This  provided,  ( 1 )  that  all 
contracts  between  emigrant  servants  and  their  masters  should  be  for- 
mally executed  before  two  magistrates,  and  that  a  register  of  such 
bargains  should  be  kept;  (2)  that  no  adult  should  be  transported  but 
by  his  own  free  consent,  and  no  child  without  the  consent  of  either  par- 
ent or  master;  (3)  in  the  case  of  children  under  fourteen  the  consent 
of  the  parent  as  well  as  the  master  was  necessary,  unless  the  former 
was  not  forthcoming.  That  a  system  which  imposed  no  check  upon  kid- 
naping of  friendless  orphans,  or  the  sale  of  children  by  their  own 
parents,  should  have  been  accepted  as  satisfactory,  is  a  startling  illus- 
tration of  the  temper  of  the  age,  and  of  that  vast  gulf  which  in  some 
matters  severs  us  from  our  forefathers.  After  this  no  trace  is  to  be 


78  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

sold  in  the  West  Indies  in  exchange  for  molasses;  the 
molasses  made  into  rum  in  New  England;  the  rum  ex- 
changed with  African  tribes  for  slaves;  the  slaves  sold 
to  cotton-growers  for  cotton;  the  cotton  made  into 
clothes  in  the  New  England  factories,— and  a  part  of 
the  product  exchanged  for  more  molasses;  to  make 
more  rum;  to  get  more  slaves;  to  get  more  cotton;  to 
make  more  clothes;  to  get  more  molasses,  etc.,  etc. 
The  balance  of  the  products  were  used  to  invest  in 
and  to  monopolize  western  land,  to  enlarge  her  own 
manufacturing  interests,  to  support  schools,  colleges, 
and  churches;  and  thus  to  help  lay  the  foundations  for 
New  England's  greatness.  And  at  a  later  day,  when 
the  slave  trade  had  been  driven  from  the  sea,  some  of 
the  same  funds  were  used  to  support  abolition  soci- 
eties, notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  New  England 
business  man  was  usually  on  the  side  of  the  "  broad- 
cloth mob ' 9  and  against  the  abolitionists. 

In  fact,  the  southern  states  had  clean  hands  as  com* 
pared  with  northern  and  European  traders,  who  en- 
acted all  the  horrors  of  the  " middle  passage"  and  se- 
cured for  these  traders  all  the  profits  obtained  for  the 

found  of  any  legislative  attempt  to  cope  with  the  abuses.  That,  how- 
ever, may  be  attributed  not  to  the  improvement  of  the  system,  but  to 
the  fact  that  it  was  gradually  giving  way  before  a  rival  form  of  in- 
dustry. *  *  *  For  it  is  an  economic  law  of  slavery,  that  where  it 
exists  it  must  exist  without  a  rival.  It  can  only  succeed  where  it  is  a 
predominant  form  of  labor.  *  *  The  new  system  (African 

slavery),  indeed,  did  not  win  the  day  wholly  without  a  struggle.  A 
Virginia  clergyman,  writing  in  1724,  deplores  the  number  of  negroes 
and  the  consequent  discouragement  to  the  poorer  class  of  white  emi- 
grants. In  South  Carolina  more  than  one  effort  was  made  to  stem 
the  tide.  In  1678  an  act  was  passed  offering  a  bounty  on  the  importa- 
tion of  indented  white  servants,  Irish  only  excepted.  That  they  were 
designed  to  counteract  the  influx  of  black  slaves  is  shown  by  the  pro- 
vision that  they  were  to  be  distributed  among  the  planters,  one  to  every 
six  negroes.  In  1712  a  more  elaborate  attempt  was  made  in  the  same 
direction.  An  act  was  passed  which  declared  in  its  preamble  the  impor- 
tance of  increasing  the  numbers  of  the  population.  A  bounty  of  four- 
teen pounds  per  head  was  offered  for  the  importation  of  British  subjects 
between  twelve  and  thirty  years  of  age.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that 
the  whole  order  of  Southern  society,  its  manner  of  life  and  forms  of  in- 


CIIAP.  VI  SLAVERY  79 

work  of  introducing  black  slavery  into  the  southern 
states.16 

85.  Slave  Labor  Unprofitable— Wage  System  Im- 
possible Under  Barbarism.— Adam  Smith  contends 
that  at  no  time  was  the  labor  of  slaves  really  profitable. 
He  argues  in  effect,  and  with  good  reason,  that  the 
ancient  slave  labor  would  have  been  more  produc- 
tive if  it  could  have  been  organized  under  the  modern 
wage  system.  But  this  takes  it  for  granted  that  mod- 
ern industrial  life  could  have  been  organized  out  of 
the  materials  from  which  the  ancient  slave  was  made. 
The  man  who  in  ancient  times  became  a  slave  was  a 
proud,  high-spirited  freeman,  more  defiant  than  a  mod- 
ern factory  worker.  He  was  in  the  possession  of  his 
own  lands  and  in  the  habit  of  producing  for  himself. 
No  one  collected  from  him  either  rent  or  interest,  nor 
compelled  him  to  earn  profits  for  others  before  he  was 
permitted  to  create  a  living  for  himself.  He  had  for 

dustiy,  were  fashioned  by  slavery.  We  have  already  seen  how  the  early 
conditions  of  Virginia  life  tended  to  throw  .the  land  of  the  colony  into 
the  hands  of  a  few  large  proprietors.  That  tendency  was  confirmed 
and  intensified  by  slavery.  For  slave  labor  can  only  be  employed  profit- 
ably in  large  gangs,  and  such  gangs  can  only  be  worked  on  wide  terri- 
tories and  in  the  hands  of  great  capitalists." — Doyle :  English  Colonies 
in  America,  pp.  382***85,  387,  388,  391. 

16.  "The  world  was  a  great  slave  holder  throughout  the  seven- 
teenth and  eighteenth  centuries,  and  during  the  greater  part  of  the 
nineteenth.  Nor  were  the  negroes  the  only  slaves  in  Virginia  or  in  the 
other  colonies. 

"On  account  of  the  crowded  condition  of  English  jails,  many  con- 
victs were  transported  to  America  and  sold  for  a  term  of  years  as  'in- 
dentured servants.'  White  slaves  and  black  worked  side  by  side  in 
the  tobacco  fields.  Sometimes  the  whites,  on  becoming  free,  acquired 
property  and  social  position  in  the  colony.  Many  led  a  miserable  ex- 
istence, and  their  descendants  were  called  'poor  whites.'  White  slavery 
ceased  about  1700.  Till  that  time  negro  slavery  was  held  in  check,  be- 
cause white  slaves  were  often  the  cheaper.  *  *  *  A  common  notice 
in  the  newspaper  was  the  announcement  of  the  arrival  of  a  packet  and 
the  public  or  private  sale  of  a  'serving-man'  or  'serving-woman.'  In 
Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  a  lively  business  went  on  in  this  purchase 
and  sale  of  redemptioners. 

"Not  infrequently  these  were  better  educated  than  those  who 
bought  them,  and  they  were  employed  to  teach  school  or  keep  books. 

"For  a  time  most  of  the  schools  in  Maryland  were  conducted  by 
convicts  or  redemptioners." — Thorpe:  A  History  of  the  American  Peo- 
ple, pp.  37,  145. 


80  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

iris  own  use  the  full  product  of  his  toil.17  It  is  more 
than  likely  that  the  only  way  by  which  he  could  be 
made  to  become  a  producer  for  another's  use,  was  by 
the  process  by  which  he  was  deprived  of  his  own 
equipment  in  lands  and  herds,  and  of  his  liberty  as 
well.  It  has  been  said  that  there  has  never  been  a  race 
of  industrial  workers  produced  without  first  going 
through  a  period  of  slavery  on  their  way  to  the  indus- 
trial habit.  This  does  not  dispute  the  position  of 
Adam  Smith.  It  only  confirms  the  suggestion  above 
that,  in  all  probability,  no  barbarian  could  be  found 
who  would  willingly  exchange  the  leisure  and  liberty 
of  his  barbarian  life  for  any  rewards  which  the  mod- 
ern wage  system  could  offer  in  their  stead.  If  the  in- 
dustrial habit  is  to  be  one  of  the  fixed  characteristic!? 
of  man  in  his  final  development,  then  the  long  centu- 
ries of  suffering  under  slavery,  and  other  forms  of  in- 
dustrial subjection,  may  have  at  least  rendered  the 
service  of  the  pain  and  travail  of  a  new  birth  for  the 
race.18 

"The  United  Colonies  conformed  to  the  usage  of  their  day  by  sell- 
ing into  foreign  bondage  their  foes  taken  in  arms.  A  few,  convicted 
of  killing  people  'otherwise  than  in  the  way  of  war/  were  executed. 
Some  years  later  Charles  II.  marketed  as  bondmen  his  Scotch  sub- 
jects taken  at  Bothwell  Bridge.  Still  later,  James  II.  sold  into  West 
Indian  slavery  at  least  eight  hundred  and  forty  of  his  fellow  English- 
men captured  in  Monmouth's  rebellion,  and  the  most  refined  ladies  of 
his  court  strove  for  grants  of  these  salable  prisoners,  not  for  purposes 
of  mercy,  but  to  replenish  their  dainty  purses." — Goodwin:  The  Pilgrim 
Republic,  p.  562. 

17.  "The   experience   of  all   ages   and  nations,   I  believe,   demon- 
strates that  the  work  done  by  slaves,  though  it  appears  to  cost  only  their 
maintenance,  is,  in  the  end,  the  dearest  of  any." — Adam  Smith:  Wealth 
of  Nations,  Book  III.,  Chapter  2.    Read  also  Book  I.,  Chapter  8,  same 
work. 

18.  "The  number  of  conquering  races  has  always  been  relatively 
small   and  the  number  of  conquered  races  has  of  course  been  corre 
spondingly  large.    This  came  at  length  to  mean  that  the  'ruling  classes1 
constituted  only  a  small  fraction  of  the  population  of  the  world,  while 
the  subject  classes  made  up  the  great  bulk  of  the  population.     At  the 
time  that  men  began  to  compile  rude  statistics  of  population,  which 
was  sparingly  done  before  the  beginning  of  our  era,  it  was  found  that 
the  slaves  far  outnumbered  the  'citizens'  of  all  countries.     In  Athens 
there  was  such  a  census  taken  in  the  year  309  B.  C.,  when  there  was 


CHAP.  VI  SLAVERY  81 

86.  Emancipation  Forbidden.— Whatever  may  have 
been  true  as  to  the  comparative  value  of  slave  labor 
and  wage  labor  at  the  beginning  of  the  period  during 
which  the  world's  work  was  done  by  chattel  slaves, 
at  a  later  date  slave  labor  was  put  to  the  test  with 
the  wage  labor  of  freedmen  and  the  displaced  farmers 
of  the  earlier  days  of  the  Eoman  Eepublic.  Two 
hundred  years  before  the  beginning  of  the  Christian 
era,  the  desperate  industry  and  small  wages  for  which 
these  people  were  willing  to  work,  and  the  greater 
effectiveness  of  their  labor,  made  it  more  profitable 
to  hire  them  than  to  own  slaves.  So  many  of  the 
Eoman  masters  took  advantage  of  this  fact,  that  the 
institution  of  slavery  was  in  danger  of  abandonment 
and  the  authority  of  the  law  interfered  to  so  tax  the 
freeing  of  the  slaves  as  to  give  the  advantage  to  slave 
labor.  There  was  more  profit  in  wage  labor,  but  so 
many  of  the  old  masters  did  not  know  how  to  satisfy 
their  arrogance  and  aristocratic  prida  without  chattel 
slavery,  that  the  law  was  invoked  by  the  many  masters 
against  the  few  to  protect  their  arrogance,  even  at  the 
expense  of  their  profits.19 


found  to  be  21,000  citizens,  10,000  foreigners,  and  400,000  slaves!  It  is 
not,  therefore,  a  small  number  of  men  that  have  been  thus  kept  in  train- 
ing all  these  ages,  but  practically  all  mankind.  It  may  sound  paradox- 
ical to  call  slavery  a  civilizing  agency,  but  if  industry  is  civilizing, 
there  is  no  escape  from  this  conclusion,  for  it  is  probably  no  exaggera- 
tion to  say  that  but  for  this  severe  school  of  experience  continued 
through  thousands  of  generations,  there  could  have  been  nothing  corre- 
sponding to  modern  industry.  And  right  here  is  a  corollary  which  Mr. 
Spencer  and  other  critics  of  militancy  have  failed  to  draw.  For  slavery, 
as  they  admit,  is  the  natural  and  necessary  outcome  of  war.  It  is  the 
initial  step  in  the  'regime  of  status.'  It  was  therefore  in  militarism  that 
the  foundations  of  industrialism  were  laid  in  social  adaptation.  There 
seems  to  be  no  other  way  by  which  mankind  could  have  been  prepared 
for  an  industrial  era.  Or  if  this  is  more  than  we  are  warranted  in  say- 
ing, it  is  at  least  true  that  this  is  the  particular  way  in  which  men  were 
fitted  for  the  role  that  they  have  been  playing  in  the  past  two  cen- 
turies."— Ward:  Pure  Sociology,  p.  272. 

19.  "The  pride  of  man  makes  him  love  to  domineer,  aaid  nothing 
mortifies  him  so  much  as  to  be  obliged  to  condescend  to  persuade  his 
inferiors.  Wherever  the  law  allows  it,  and  the  nature  of  work  can  af- 


82  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

87.    Summary.— 1.    Chattel    slavery  did  not  exist 
among  primitive  peoples. 

2.  Chattel  slavery  came  into  existence  as  the  result 
of  the  inter- tribal  wars.    Private  property  in  land  and 
in  slaves  came  into  existence  by  the  same  process  and 
from  the  same  cause. 

3.  All  ancient  civilizations  had  their  economic  foun- 
dations in  slavery.    The  ancient  world  was  divided  into 
two  classes,— soldiers  and  slaves. 

4.  Black  slavery  in  America  was  a  reversion  to  an 
out-grown  institution,  and  was  finally  abandoned  be- 
cause not  profitable  in  the  northern  states,  and   the 
southern  states  acquiesced  in  its  final  overthrow  for  the 
same  reason. 

5.  Slavery  was  never  profitable  in  competition  with 
wage  labor  and  existed  primarily  because  force  was 
necessary  to  induce  the  labor  which  could  not  be  hired 
on  any  terms. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  In  what  way  is   capitalism  related  to  the  primitive  life   of 
the  race? 

2.  What  leading  characteristics  of  capitalism  came  into  existence 
with  slavery? 

3.  What  was  the  cause  of  the  inter-tribal  barbarian  wars? 

4.  What  was  the  relation  of  war  to  the  beginning  of  slavery? 

5.  How  do  we  know  that  slavery  did  not  exist  in  primitive  so- 
ciety? 

6.  What  were  the  beginnings  of  the  cities  and  how  were  their 
populations  made  up,  and  why? 

7.  What  one  thing  was  true  of  the  labor  of  all  ancient  civiliza- 
tions ? 

8.  Was  slavery  ever  really  profitable?     Why  could  not  the  wage 
system  have  succeeded  barbarism  instead  of  slavery? 

9.  When  ancient  slavery  was  found  to  be  unprofitable,  why  was  it 
not  abandoned  ?    Quote  Adam  Smith. 

10.  Why  did  American  slavery  die  in  the  North  without  a  strug- 
gle ?    Why  is  there  no  demand  for  a  return  to  slavery  in  the  South  ? 


ford  it,  therefore,  he  will  generally  prefer  the  service  of  slaves  to  that 
of  free  men." — Adam  Smith:  Wealth  of  Nations,  Book  III.,  Chapter 
2;  also  see  Simonds:  Story  of  Labor,  p.  139. 


CHAPTER  VH 

SERFDOM 

89.  Workmen  Born— Not  Captured.— When  the 
Eoman  authority  had  extended  Roman  conquest  to  the 
utmost  limits,  and  the  task  of  protecting  the  frontier 
had  made  impossible  the  further  extension  of  the  fron- 
tier, and  the  limit  of  expansion  by  conquest  had  at 
last  been  reached,  then  alliances  with  new  tribes  could 
no  longer  recruit  the  Roman  army,  nor  conquest  of 
new  countries  provide  more  slaves.  The  old  order  of 
things  which  had  driven  the  slave  at  his  task  and  to 
his  death,  and  then  replaced  him  with  a  fresh  captive 
from  the  eternal  war  on  the  frontier— had  to  yield  to 
a  milder  program.  Slaves  must  be  propagated  if  they 
could  not  be  captured.  If  they  were  to  be  born  and 
reared  on  the  estates  which  they  were  to  serve,  then 
the  conditions  of  the  slaves  must  be  improved  and  a 
fixed  tenure  of  their  interest  in  the  hut  and  garden 
must  be  provided  as  the  necessary  condition  of  their 
providing  and  caring  for  the  offspring  who  were  to 
loecome  the  productive  workers  of  the  great  estates.1 

1.  "Completion  of  the  Roman  system  of  conquest  reduced  the  sup- 
ply of  slaves.  *  *  *  and  the  Romans  were  obliged  to  have  recourse 
to  the  milder  but  more  tedious  methods  of  propagation." — Gibbon:  De- 
cline and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  Chapter  2. 

"From  the  very  moment  when  barbarism  advanced  to  the  encoun- 
ter with  the  ancient  world,  one  sees  the  metamorphosis  commenced; 

83 


84  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

90.  The  Serf's  Home.— The  most   marked   advan- 
tage, therefore,  of  the  serf  over  the  slave,  was  that 
now  the  worker  could  have  a  family;  could  be  inter- 
ested in  his  children;  could  know  and  love  his  off- 
spring; would  become  enthusiastic    in    the    industry 
which  would  provide  for  their  welfare.    It  should  be 
noticed  that  the  masters  granted  to  the  old  slaves 
this  new  privilege  for  the  sake  of  so  securing  new 
workers,  and  as  the  only  way  by  which  the  necessary 
workers  could  be  provided.    To  the  worker  the  new 
home  was  a  boon  longed  for  through  the  centuries.    To 
the  master  the  hovel  of  the  serf  was  only  a  breeding 
pen  for  toilers,  and  he  spoke  contemptuously  of  the 
serf  and  of  the  serf's  family  as  "his  litter.  "2 

91.  The  Slave  Market.— The  slave  trade  did  not 
cease  with  the  end  of  conquest*    The  occasional  cap- 
tive and  the  child  specially  reared  for  the  market  kept 
up  the  trade  centuries  after  entering  upon  the  pro- 
cess which  finally  transformed  nearly  all  Europe  from 
the  old  slavery  into  the  conditions  of  the  new  serfdom. 
In  England  the  English  parents  depended  for  no  small 
share  of  their  income  on  the  sale  of  children  born  unto 
themselves  and  reared  especially  for  the  slave  market. 
Bristol  was  the  great  slave  market  of  England,  and 
this  practice  did  not  cease  at  that  city  until  William 
the  Conqueror  prohibited  it  in  the  eleventh  century,3 

slavery  grows  weak,  because  people  no  longer  come  from  the  country  of 
slaves.  They  are  more  costly ;  people  treat  them  as  a  rare  thing,  or  per- 
haps employ  them  as  a  defense.  In  proportion  as  the  power  was  lost 
of  renewing  them  by  conquest,  and  their  numbers  could  only  be  increased 
by  their  own  fecundity,  they  became  members  of  the  Roman  family ;  they 
lived  in  a  condition  nearly  like  that  of  our  domestics,  and  their  masters 
insensibly  lost  the  habits  of  despotism  which  attach  to  the  idea  of 
property.  Thus  was  brought  about  the  transition  from  slavery  to  serf- 
dom, two  regimes  very  different,  since  the  former  enfeoffed  man  to  man, 
and  the  second  simply  bound  him  to  the  soil." — Blanqui:  History  of 
Political  Economy,  pp.  88-89. 

2.  Green :    History  of  the  English  people,  p.  260. 

3.  "An  edict  yet  more  honorable  to  him    [William  the  Conqueror] 
put  an  end  to  the  slave  trade,  which  until  then  had  been  carried  on  at  the 


CHAP.  VII  SERFDOM  85 

All  Southern  Europe  was  well  on  in  this  transition 
from  the  slave,  captured  and  driven  to  his  death,  with- 
out mercy,  to  the  slave  born  and  so  treated  that  he 
would  stay  on  his  master's  land  and  reproduce  a  suc- 
cessor to  undertake  with  him  and  after  him  the  same 
slave's  task,  when  the  Roman  authority  collapsed  and 
workers  had  to  be  reared  rather  than  captured  as  the 
sole  source  of  supply. 

92.  Germanic  Tribes  in  Southern  Europe.— When 
the  Germanic  tribes  took  possession  of  the  Roman  ter- 
ritory, they  came  down  from  the  north  with  their  bar- 
barian tribal  relations  still  in  force.  They  came  into 
a  country  where  the  method  of  making  a  livelihood 
involved  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  on  a  larger  scale 
than  had  been  practiced  among  them.  They  were  act- 
ing under  the  military  exigencies  of  the  general  dis- 
order which  followed  the  downfall  of  the  Roman  au- 
thority. None  of  them  had  ever  lived  in  cities.  ' '  They 
looked  upon  the  walls  of  a  town  as  a  prison."4  The 
general  disorder  made  the  support  of  the  great  cities 
insecure  and  uncertain,  while  they  fell  into  such  neg-» 
lect  that  from  sanitary  reasons  they  became  practi- 
cally uninhabitable.  The  old  Roman  masters  who  were 
engaged  in  agriculture  had  gathered  into  walled  towns 
for  common  defense  and  for  the  social  advantages  in 
that  way  obtained.  The  new  Germanic  military  chief- 
tains utterly  destroyed  many  of  these  towns  and 

port  of  Bristol." — Green :  History  of  the  English  People,  Chapter  2,  Sec- 
tion 6. 

"It  was  not  an  uncommon  practice  for  the  poor  in  the  Middle  Ages 
to  sell  themselves  into  slavery,  or  to  become  slaves  by  debt." — Brace: 
Gesta  Christi,  or  a  History  of  Human  Progress,  p.  229. 

«*  *  *  There  was  a  very  large  export  trade  in  slaves,  and 
their  prices  are  recorded  in  the  laws  of  the  period.  Bristol  was  a 
great  center  of  this  sad  traffic,  and  remained  so  till  the  twelfth  century, 
and  English  and  Danish  slaves  formed  an  important  merchandise  in 
the  markets  of  Germany.  The  devout  Gytha,  Earl  Godwin's  wife,  is 
said  to  have  shipped  whole  gangs,  especially  of  young  and  pretty  women, 
for  sale  in  Denmark." — Gibbins:  Industry  in  England,  pp.  44-45. 

4.     Freeman:  General  Sketch  of  History,  p.  173. 


86  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

all  were  treated  with  neglect  and  contempt.5  As  these 
new  chieftains  came  to  cultivate  the  soil  and  to  provide 
defense,  they  built  castles  on  their  own  estates  which 
they  and  their  fighting  men  occupied  in  idleness 
and  revelry  while  the  work  was  done  by  the  same  old 
body  of  slaves,  now  sometimes  reinforced  by  their 
former  masters  who  had  escaped  the  sword  of  the  Ger- 
mans only  to  join  the  ranks  of  the  enslaved.  It  was 
by  the  effort  to  adapt  the  social  organization  of  those*1 
still  in  barbarism  to  the  industrial  conditions  of  those 
well  advanced  in  civilization,  that  feudalism  came  into 
existence.  Feudalism  was  an  effort  to  preserve  the 
independence  of  the  tribes  of  warriors  whose  democ- 
racy had  been  destroyed  by  war;  whose  means  of  sup- 
port now  required  a  fixed  habitation,  and  whose  re- 
sources now  included  the  slaves  as  well  as  the  lands  of 
the  conquered  Eonians.  It  existed  side  by  side  with 
slavery,  but  finally  succeeded  slavery  as  the  predom- 
inant industrial  method  for  a  thousand  years.  There 
were  many  kinds  and  degrees  of  serfs.  There  were 
many  kinds  and  degrees  among  those  who  were  the 
masters  under  serfdom.  The  original  landholders  of 
the  northern  countries  of  Europe  were  finally  dis- 
placed and  the  castles  and  hovels  of  feudalism  covered 
the  British  Isles  and  all  of  Western  Europe  to  the 
north  as  far  as  the  Scandinavian  countries.  In  the 
northern  countries  and  in  England,  serfdom  was  the 
direct  creation  of  a  compromise— not  between  the  last 
stages  of  the  old  slavery  and  these  new  military  condi- 
tions, but,  instead,  a  compromise  between  survivals 
of  direct  barbarian  customs  and  these  new  military 
conditions. 

93.  In  Teutonic  and  Celtic  Countries.— In  all  Teu- 
tonic and  Celtic  countries,  the  old  barbarian  tribal  or 
village  interest  in  all  the  land,  on  the  part  of  all  the 

5.     Adam  Smith:  Wealth  of  Nation?,  Book  111.,  Chapter  3. 


CHAP.  VII  SERFDOM  87 

people,  still  survived.  The  development  of  the  new 
military  powers  simply  destroyed  the  earlier  chief 
men.  The  new  conquerors  consented  to  the  earlier 
civil  usages.  They  simply  made  new  chief  men  from 
among  their  own  favorites  and  in  a  way  perpetuated 
the  ancient  rights  to  the  soil,— only  conditioning  the 
further  enjoyment  of  these  rights  on  the  doing  of  mili- 
tary service.  This  was  particularly  the  case  in  Eng- 
land. When  William  the  Conqueror  had  made  himself 
the  master  of  England,  he  provided  the  military  estab- 
lishment necessary  for  his  own  support,  not  only  by 
appropriating  large  estates  to  his  own  use,  but  by  mak- 
ing the  titles  to  practically  all  the  land  in  England 
depend  on  military  service.6  This  is  the  reason  why 
all  England  was  so  quickly  covered  with  castles  after 
the  conquest.  It  was  a  part  of  the  conquest.  It 
was  the  process  by  which  the  conquest  was  made  se- 
cure. 

94.  Thorold  Rogers  on  the  Fifteenth  Century.  - 
It  was  from  these  antecedents  that  the  conditions  arose 
which  finally  made  so  large  a  share  of  agricultural 
Englishmen  either  self-employers,  outright  and  en- 
tirely, or  a  mixture  of  the  serf  and  the  wage  worker— 
so  that  great  companies  of  men  worked  both  for 
wages  and  for  themselves.  They  had  their  patch  of 
four  acres  with  the  cottage.  They  had  their  strips  in 
the  cultivated  fields  and  in  the  meadows.  They  had 
their  rights  to  fuel  and  to  pasturage  from  the  common 
holdings  of  the  village,  and  so  achieved  a  condition  of 
which  Thorold  Rogers  speaks  as  "the  golden  age  of 
labor. ' '  Of  these  people  he  says :  "I  have  stated  more 
than  once  that  the  fifteenth  century  and  the  first  quar- 
ter of  the  sixteenth  were  the  golden  age  of  the  English 
laborer,  if  we  are  to  interpret  the  wages  which  he 

6.     Blackstone:    Commentaries  on  the  Laws  of  England,  Vol.  I., 
Book  II.,  Chapter  4. 


88  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

earned  by  the  cost  of  the  necessaries  of  life.  At  no 
time  were  wages,  relatively  speaking,  so  high;  and  at 
no  time  was  food  so  cheap  nor,  as  I  have 

already  observed,  were  the  hours  long.    It  is  plain  that ' 
the  day  was  one  of  eight  hours."7 

95.  Denial  of  Political  Power.— The  trouble  with 
all  this  was  that  after  the  conquest  the  authority  of  the 
state  was  never  in  the  hands  of  these  workers;  that 
whatever  they  had,  they  held  only  because  it  seemed 
most  advantageous  to  their  masters  that  it  should  be 
so.     Thorold  Eogers  states  that  the  conditions  con- 
stantly grew  worse  for  three  centuries,   and,     as  we 
shall  see  later,  completed  the  chapter  of  abuses  by  the 
military   masters    appropriating   public   lands    when 
they  no  longer  needed  the  services  of  the  workers  and 
so  coming  finally  to  the  complete  triumph  of  the  wage 
system  over  serfdom. 

96.  Serfdom  in  America.— All  of  the  charters  which 
were  given  to  the  early  companies  for  the   settle- 
ment of  America,  were  of  the  same  nature  as  the  old 
feudal  land  grants  at  home  in  the  several   countries 
which  made  them.     On  the  Hudson,  more  than  else- 

7.     Rogers:    Work  and  Wages,   pp.   326-27. 

"About  the  year  1000  benefices  took  the  name  of  fiefs  (feod),  and 
the  feudal  organization  was  then  complete.  The  servile  or  half- 
servile  crowd,  slaves  of  the  Romans  and  Germans,  the  coloni  of  the  first, 
the  lidi  of  the  second,  either  became  servants  of  the  lords  or  received 
lands  from  them  on  very  humiliating  conditions  and  were  henceforth 
feudal  serfs." — Maine:  Ancient  Law,  p.  231. 

"Another  element  [of  feudalism]  was  represented  by  the  bene- 
ficium,  which  was  partly  of  Roman,  partly  of  German,  origin.  A 
practice  had  arisen  in  the  empire  of  granting  out  frontier-  lands  to 
soldiers  upon  condition  of  their  rendering  military  service  in  border  war- 
fare* *  *  This  Roman  custom  naturally  suggested  to  the  Teutonic 
kings  the  plan  of  rewarding  their  followers  out  of  their  own  estates 
with  grants  of  land — benefices  or  fiefs, — with  a  special  undertaking  to  be 
faithful  in  consideration  of  the  gift." — Taylor:  Origin  and  Growth  of 
the  English  Constitution,  Vol.  I.,  p.  223. 

"I  believe,  indeed,  that  under  ordinary  circumstances  the  means 
of  life  were  more  abundant  during  the  Middle  Ages  than  they  are  under 
our  modern  experience.  There  was,  I  am  convinced,  no  extreme  poverty." 
— Rogers:  Economic  Interpretation  of  History,  p.  16. 

Kropotkin:  Mutual  Aid,  Chapters  V.  and  VI. 


CHAP.  VII  SERFDOM  89 

where,  the  real  feudal  life  was  actually  in  force.  There 
was  complete  dependence  of  the  serf  on  his  lord,  in- 
cluding military  service  and  the  oath  of  allegiance  to 
the  landlord  by  his  tenant.  This  feudalism  was  in 
form  overthrown  by  the  Revolution.  There  were  and 
are  yet  some  survivals  of  this  old  feudalism  still 
lingering  in  the  Empire  State.  Her  early  control  by 
the  few  great  families  along  the  Hudson;  the  appoint- 
ment of  county  officers  by  the  state  authorities— which 
was  not  abandoned  until  1830— and  the  large  tracts  of 
land  still  held  in  entailed  and  rent  gathering  estates, 
are  instances  in  point. 

Both  slavery  and  serfdom  in  this  country  are  inter- 
esting subjects  for  study,  but  neither  were  in  the  line 
of  the  regular  development  of  modern  industry.  Serf-"! 
dom  was  an  importation  from  Europe,  and  slavery  was 
a  recurrence  to  a  method  of  production  already  out- 
grown in  the  regular  line  of  advance. 

97.  Slavery  and  Serfdom.— We  will  rpturn  to  the 
study  of  slavery  and  serfdom  in  the  places  of  their 
natural  and  historical  development.  The  differences 
between  slavery  and  serfdom  are  not  easily  stated,  but 
the  one  which  is  of  economic  importance— and  there- 
fore of  importance  to  us— is  that,  historically,  men 
first  owned  slaves,  and  the  land  in  order  to  employ  the 
slaves.  Finally  the  discovery  was  made  that  if  they 
owned  the  land,  they  did  not  need  to  own  the  slaves; 
and  to  extend  to  the  slaves  some  portion  of  their 
rights,  would  add  to  their  value  as  workers  and  would 
promote  the  propagation  of  more  workers.  The  mas- 
ters had  established  themselves  on  estates  and  gath- 
ered their  soldiers  about  them.  The  soldiers  were  free 
men,  only  it  was  desertion  to  withdraw  from  the  mili- 
tary service  of  their  lords.  The  workers  were  given 
the  same  kind  of  freedom— that  is,  they  were  per- 
mitted to  say  that  they  were  no  longer  slaves,  but  they 


90  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

were  forbidden  to  go  from  one  place  to  another.  They 
had  belonged  to  the  masters  under  slavery.  They  be- 
longed to  the  land  and  the  land  belonged  to  masters 
under  serfdom.8 

98.  Vice,  Cruelty  and  Greed.— It   was   discovered 
that  there  was  no  vice  which   slavery  could  gratify,, 
which  could  not  as  well  be  served  under  serfdom.    It 
was  discovered  that  the  earnings  under  serfdom  were 
larger  for  the  master  than  under  slavery.    It  was  dis- 
covered that  the  pride  and  arrogance  of  masters,  which 
was  the  sole  incentive  for  the  perpetuation  of  unprofit- 
able slavery,  could  be  better  served  by  telling  the  vic- 
tim that  he  was  no  longer  a  slave.    Then,  by  owning 
the  sole  means  by  which  a  worker  could  maintain  his 
existence,  they  could  continue  to  rob  and  corrupt  the 
serf  after  the  same  old  manner,  and  with  larger  re- 
turns for  the  master  than  slavery  could  afford.    Serf- 
dom was  but  another  form  of  slavery  introduced  by  the 
masters  and  solely  for  the  masters ?  advantage. 

99.  The  Masters  Make  the  Change  to  Serfdom.— 
The  change  from  slavery  to  serfdom  was  not  a  victory 

8.  "The  political  constitution  of  serfdom  was  profoundly  differ- 
ent, as  were  also  its  economic  antecedents.  Physical  control  over  the 
personality  of  the  laborer  was  no  longer  compatible  with  the  lower  fer- 
tility of  the  soil.  A  more  fecund  social  system  was  required,  and 
therewith  a  milder  method  of  suppressing  the  free  land,  in  order  to 
afford  greater  stability  of  conditions  and  to  ameliorate  the  condition 
of  the  laborers.  Subjection,  it  is  true,  increased  in  extent  as  a  large 
number  of  freemen  were  now  reduced  to  serfdom,  or  to  a  state  bordering 
thereon;  but  it  diminished,  nevertheless,  in  intensity." — Loria:  Eco- 
nomic Foundations  of  Society,  p.  138. 

"The  form  of  society  immediately  preceding  the  one  with  which 
we  are  familiar,  that  is  to  say,  feudalism,  recognized  land  as  the  basis 
of  the  social  structure.  Land  was  originally  the  only  productive  prop- 
erty known;  and  the  significant  fact  for  one  who  desires  to  appreciate 
the  development  of  the  property  tax  is  that  social  duties,  as  well  as 
social  privileges,  were  in  large  part  determined  by  the  amount  of  land 
assigned,  whether  to  the  noble  or  to  the  serf.  This  was  true  of  the  in- 
ternal organization  of  the  manors,  where  labor  on  the  demesne  was  the 
'contribution'  of  the  villain  to  the  support  of  the  state;  it  was  also  true 
of  the  national  organization  when  the  lords  acknowledged  their  hold- 
ings by  rendering  military  service.  It  thus  appears  that  feudalism  re- 
garded the  holding  of  land  as  the  measure  of  social  service." — Adams: 
Finance,  pp.  362-63. 


CHAP.  VII  SERFDOM  91 

won  by  or  for  the  slaves.  It  was  a  change  effected  by, 
and  in  the  interest  of  the  masters,  and  this  is  evident 
for  the  following  reasons: 

100.  Transition  Most  Obscure.— 1.     It  was  made 
with  so  little  stir  that  the  historian  cannot  tell  you 
when  nor  how  it  happened.    Every  demand  which  is 
known  to  have  been  made  by  the  slaves  or  serfs  during 
all  the  years  when  slavery  was  shifting  into  serfdom 
and  serfdom  was  shifting  from  one  condition  of  de- 
pendence to  another,  was  promptly  met  by  repression 
the  most  cruel.    It  could  not  have  been  secured  by  the 
slaves  as  a  victory  in  their  interest.     Adam  Smith 
says  of  one  of  these  changes  in  the  form  of  serfdom: 
* '  The  time  and  manner  in  which  so  important  a  revolu- 
tion was  brought  about  is  one  of  the  most  obscure 
points  in  modern  history."    The  whole  personality  of 
the  slaves  or  serfs,  for  this  period,  was  a  blank.  For  a 
thousand  years  the  only  mention  the  old  historians 
made  of  them  was  as  playing  minor  parts  in  the  vices 
and  crimes  of  their  lordly  masters.    If  they  had  had 
the  power  to  enforce  so  marked  a  change,  they  would 
have  made  trouble  enough  to  have  made  the  transition 
an  event  in  history.    If  they  could  have  caused  this 
change,  they  could  have  made  themselves  felt  in  other 
ways  so  as  not  to  have  utterly  disappeared  from  the 
world's  notice  while  they  were  doing  it. 

101.  Slaves  Could  Not— Masters  Did.-2.    When 
slavery  was  established  in  the  first  place,  those  who 
were  to  be  made  slaves  were  fighting  men— the  equals 
of  those  who  were  struggling  to  become  their  masters. 
When  serfdom  was  to  succeed  slavery,  those  who  were 
to  be  made  serfs  were  already  slaves.    They  were  ac- 
customed to  all  manner  of  cruelty  and  were  helpless  in 
the    hands    of    their    military    masters.      Whatever 
changes  were  made  at  all,  were  made  by  the  only  ones 
able  to  make  them  and  in  their  own  behalf.     There 


92  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

never  was  a  slave  or  serf,  unless  back  of  him  stood  a 
soldier.  Whatever  changes  have  taken  place  in  the 
forms  of  industrial  servitude,  have  taken  place  under 
the  eye  of  the  soldier  and  in  behalf  of  the  master 
classes.  The  slave  or  serf  has  had  as  his  only  choice 
to  serve  or  die.  He  should  have  died,— sometimes  he 
did. 

102.— Summary.— 1.  When  the  extension  of  the 
Eoman  frontier  was  no  longer  possible,  the  conquest  of 
new  territory  came  to  an  end.  Hence  the  capture  of 
men  in  order  to  make  them  slaves  also  practically 
ended.  Then  workers  had  to  be  propagated  instead  of 
being  captured,  and  the  improvement  in  the  lot  of  the 
slave  which  such  propagation  required  was  the  prin- 
cipal cause  of  the  change  from  slavery  to  serfdom. 

2.  The  conquest  of  smaller  tribes  by  those  which 
were  larger  and  better  organized  for  military  pur- 
poses frequently  resulted  in   the   victorious   military 
masters  confirming  the  barbarian  usages  of  the  cap- 
tured tribes,  as  to  land  and  labor,  with  the  one  condi- 
tion that  the  conquered  people  should  render  to  their 
new  masters  such  military  service  as  they  might  de- 
mand.   In  most  Teutonic  and  Celtic  countries  this  was 
the  beginning  of  serfdom. 

3.  In  the  countries  which  had  become  civilized 
under  the  old  Eoman  rule,  serfdom  was  a  modification 
of  slavery. 

4.  In  the  countries  which  had  continued  to  be  at 
war  with  Eome,  serfdom  was  the  result  of  the  develop- 
ment of  military  power  among  themselves  and  was  the 
form  of  dependent  labor  which  was  developed  directly 
from  inter-tribal  barbarian  war  in  these  countries. 

5.  The  great  advantages  which  the  workers  enjoyed 
at  certain  times  in  some  countries,  as    in    England, 
under  serfdom,  were  survivals  from  barbarism,  which 
survivals  were  then  in  the  process  of  being  destroyed. 


CHAP.  VII  SERFDOM  93 

6.  Wherever  serfdom  came  into  existence  as  a  mod- 
ification of  slavery  it  was  by  the  choice  of  the  masters 
and  in  their  interest. 

7.  Wherever  serfdom  came  into  existence  as  the  re- 
sult of  conquest  it  was  established  by  force  of  arms, 
and  in  behalf  of  the  new  military  masters. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  How  were  workers  obtained  under  the  old  Roman  rule? 

2.  How  were  they  obtained  when  war  could  no  longer  supply  the 
feaptives? 

3.  In  what  different  light  did  the  masters  and  the  workers  regard 
the  homes  of  the  serfs? 

4.  By  what  means  did  the  new  masters,  who  came  into  the  con- 
trol of  all  Europe  after  the  fall  of  Rome,  provide  for  the  support  of 
their  military  establishments? 

5.  How  did  Thorold  Rogers  regard  the  lot  of  English  workingmen 
in  the  fifteeenth  century? 

6.  Whence  came  these  great  advantages  of  English  workers? 

7.  How  did  they  lose  them  ?    What  power  was  never  granted  them 
by  their  new  military  masters  and  for  lack  of  which  they  lost  these 
good  conditions? 

8.  What  was  the  difference  between  slavery  and  serfdom  ? 

9.  By  whom  and  in  whose  interest  was  the  transition  made  from 
slavery  to  serfdom? 


CHAPTER  VHI 

THE  WAGE  SYSTEM 

103.  Slavery,  Serfdom  and  the  Wage  System.— In 
preceding  chapters,  we  have  noticed  how  war  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  enslavement  of  the  captive,  and  the  mak- 
ing of  private  property  of  the  lands  before  held  by 
those  who  were  thus  enslaved.  It  was  seen  that  when  it 
was  discovered  that  both  the  vices  and  the  greed  of 
the  master  classes  could  be  better  served  by  serfdom 
than  by  slavery,  the  change  to  serfdom  was  effected  by 
and  in  behalf  of  the  master  classes.  The  discovery 
was  made  that  if  the  master  owned  the  land  and  could 
forbid  the  serf  from  moving  off  from  the  land  of  his 
lord,  he  did  not  need  to  own  the  slave,  and  so  he  called 
a  slave  a  serf,  and  himself  a  lord.  In  the  same  way 
it  was  afterward  discovered  that  there  was  no  vice 
which  slavery  or  serfdom  fostered  which  could  not  be 
as  well  gratified,  while  greed  could  be  better  served, 
under  the  wage  system.  If  the  lords  and  masters  owned 
all  the  land  and  tools,  the  serf  could  be  permitted  to 
go,  when  not  needed  by  the  master,  and  come  again,  as 
he  might  choose,  so  long  as  he  remained  without  where 
to  employ  his  hands  as  well  as  without  "  where  to  lay 
his  head,"  except  some  lord  or  master  should  make 
terms  with  him. 

94 


CHAP.  VIII  THE  WAGE  SYSTEM  95 

104.  Industrial   Discipline.— The  wage   system  is 
characterized  by  one  thing  which  was  impossible  un- 
der either  slavery  or  serfdom,  namely,  the  right  to  seek 
a  new  master;  but  curiously  enough,  this  privilege  of 
quitting  the  employ  of  one's  lord  or  master,  which  the 
master  classes  refused  under  both  slavery  and  serf- 
dom, has  become,  under  the  wage  system,  not  only  the 
right  to  go,  on  the  part  of  the  worker,  but  the  power 
to  discharge,  on  the  part  of  the  master;  and  this  has 
become  the  most  powerful  means  of   industrial   dis- 
cipline ever  held  in  the  hands  of  masters.1 

105.  The  Struggle  for  Land  Again.— It  has  been 
seen  how,  in  the  early  time,  the  tribes  trespassed  on 
each  other's  territory,  and  how,  finally,  all  tribes  were 
obliged  to  become  warring  tribes,  or  become  the  slaves 
of  their  warring  neighbors.    This  same  thing  happened 
in  feudalism.     No  sooner  had  the  warring  chieftains 
secured  themselves  in  their  castles   and   possessions, 
than,  if  for  no  other  reason,  the  natural   growth   of 
their  establishments  demanded  more  room.    They  had 
established  themselves  by  fighting,  and,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  fighting  never  ceased.    If  any  particular  lord 
had  wished  "to  avoid  strife  and  to  live  peaceably  with 
all  men,"  he  would  not  have  been  able  to  do  so.    He 
and  his  house  would  have  gone  at  once  to  their  own 

1.  "Freemen  indeed!  You  are  slaves,  not  to  masters  of  any 
strength  or  honor,  but  to  the  idlest  talkers  at  that  floral  end  of  West- 
minster bridge  [in  Parliament].  Nay,  to  countless  meaner  masters  than 
they.  For  though,  indeed,  as  early  as  the  year  1102,  it  was  decreed  in 
•]  a  council  at  St.  Peter's,  Westminster,  'that  no  man  for  the  future  should 
presume  to  carry  on  the  wicked  trade  of  selling  men  in  the  mar- 
kets like  ferute  beasts,  which  hitherto  had  been  the  common  custom  of 
England,'  the  no  less  wicked  trade  of  under-selling  men  in  markets  has 
lasted  to  this  day;  producing  conditions  of  slavery  differing  from  the 
ancient  ones  only  in  being  starved  instead  of  full-fed;  and  besides  this, 
a  state  of  slavery  unheard  of  among  the  nations  till  now,  has  arisen 
with  us.  In  all  former  slaveries — Egyptian,  Algerian,  Saxon,  and 
American — the  slave  complaint  has  been  of  compulsory  work.  But  the 
modern  Politico-Economic  slave  is  a  new  and  far  more  injured  species, 
condemned  to  compulsory  idleness,  for  fear  he  should  spoil  other  peo- 
ple's trade." — Rich :  The  Communism  of  John  Ruskin,  pp.  188-89. 


96  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

burials  or  into  some  other  lord's  service  and  so  into 
serfdom. 

106.  Expansion  Inevitable. —As  long  as  the  practice 
of  taking  by  force  of  arms,  or  by  the  power  of  the 
competitive  market  remains,  the  tribes,  the  armies  and 
the  markets  must  continually  expand  or  destruction 
awaits  the  enterprise.    Just  as  the  expansion  of  the 
ancient  tribes  created  the  ancient  nation,  so  the  ex-, 
pansion  by  the  feudal  lords  of  their  holdings  created 
the  modern  nations.    Whenever  a  powerful  chieftain, 
sallying  forth  from  his  own  castle,  had  destroyed  the 
castles  and  absorbed  the  holdings  of  his  neighbors, 
covering  territory  so  large  that  castles  and  warriors 
were  required  at  many  points  in  order  to  insure  protec- 
tion, it  would  create  from  among  his  followers  other 
lords,  who  would  hold  these  new  estates,  but  remain 
subject  to  their  former  master,  and  hold  themselves 
and  their  fighting  men  forever  in  readiness  to  fight,  not 
for  themselves  as  independent    lords   but   for   their 
former  master,  now  the  lord  of  an  ever  widening  realm. 
In  the  face  of  such  a  warrior,  smaller  lords  would  has- 
ten to  declare  allegiance  to  him,  and  to  become  his 
military  subjects;  not  because  they  loved  him,  but  be- 
cause they  dared  not  fight  the  combination. 

107.  Widening  Peaceful  Territory.— These  subject 
lords  were  not  permitted  by  their  common  master  to 
fight  each  other,  and  hence,  as  war  extended  the  terri- 
tory of  such  a  chieftain,  it  ended  war  within  his  ter- 
ritory as  long  as  he  could  maintain  control.    To  keep 
control  within  his  territory,  as  well  as  to  extend  his 
territory,  made  necessary  the  repair  of  the  old  roads 
and  the  construction  of  new  ones.    And  so  better  roads 
and  more  of  them  connected  the  castles  with  each  other, 
with  the  centers  of  power,  and  with  the  frontiers.2 

108.  Jealousies.— It  will  be  readily  seen  that  terri- 
tories brought  together  in  such  a  way  would  be  con- 

2.    Macaulay:  History  of  England,  Vol.  1.,  Chapter  3. 


THE  WAGE  SYSTEM  ft? 

stantly  subject  to  the  combinations  of  the  stronger 
lords  to  control  the  action  of  their  master,  while  any 
misfortune  which  would  befall  the  king  would  be  taken 
advantage  of  by  those  having  no  regard  for  him,  other 
than  an  allegiance  based  on  fear.  Jealousies,  hatreds, 
rebellions  and  assassinations  were  ever  rife  and  fre- 
quently scattered  in  an  hour  what  had  been  patiently 
gathered  in  a  lifetime  or  a  century. 

109.  Divine  Right  of  Kings.— Besides  their  armies, 
the  princes  devised  other  means  of  extending  and  re- 
taining power.    They  invented  the  doctrine  of  "divine 
right  of  kings,"  and  against  the  rival  and  the  rebel 
they  reinforced  all  that  their  armies  could  do  in  this 
life,  with  all  that  everlasting  torment  could  threaten 
for  the  next.    In  this  way,  when  a  local  lord  wished 
to  rebel,  he  would  be  unable  to  hold  his  fighting  men 
together,  as  against  the  king  of  the  realm,  who,  it  was 
believed,  had  power  not  only  to  kill  the  body  in  battle, 
but  to  torture  the  soul  in  hell. 

110.  The  Towns.— Another  important  item  in  this 
program  of  the  kings  was  to  recognize  and  encourage 
the  towns.    The  local  lords  had  uniformly  treated  the 
towns  with  contempt.      The  towns  were  quarreling 
with  their  local  lords  and  the  kings  were  trying  to 
lessen  the  power  of  these  lords  in  order  to  extend  their 
own.3 

The  kings  not  only  played  the  part  of  the  "big  med- 
icine man, ' '  so  far  as  the  soldiers  of  all  the  lords  were 
concerned,  but  they  were  ready  to  form  alliances  with 
the  despised  tradesmen  of  the  towns  as  well  as  with  the 
horrors  of  the  under  world  in  order  the  better  to  con- 
trol their  subject  lords. 

3.  "The  princes  who  lived  upon  the  worst  terms  with  their  barons 
seem  accordingly  to  have  been  the  most  liberal  in  grants  of  this  kind 
to  their  burghs.  King  John  of  England,  for  example,  appears  to  have 
been  a  most  munificent  benefactor  to  the  towns." — Adam  Smith :  Wealth 
of  Nations,  Book  III.,  Chapter  3.  The  whole  chapter  is  given  to  the  sub- 
ject and  is  full  of  interest. 


98  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

111.  Better  Roads,  More  Trade.— The  extension  of 
territory  and  the  creation  of  roads,  together  with  the 
extension  of  conditions  of  peace,  established  commerce 
on  a  much  larger  scale  than  had  been  possible  before, 
while  the  extension  of  territory  involved  the  gathering 
of  large  armies  and  corresponding  demands  for  larger 
supplies  at  points  distant  from  the  castles,  and  hence, 
difficult  to  provide. 

112.  Robber  Barons.— In  the  earlier  periods  of  feu- 
dalism the  towns  had  been  neglected.    They  had  been 
occupied  by  tradesmen,  who  had  been  despised,  who 
had  carried  about  their  goods  for  sale  much  after  the 
manner  of  a  modern  peddler.4    These  peddlers,  how- 
ever, were  the  predecessors  of  the  great  commercial 
princes  of  our  own  times.    Then  they  were  subject  to 
all  manner  of  taxes  and  tariffs,  collected  by  the  lords 
for  the  privilege  of  selling  goods  on  the  several  petty 
territories  which  the  lords  controlled.5    They  were  not 
only  taxed  at  the  castles,  but  they  were  robbed  on  the 
roads.     Among  the  titles  which  those  old  lords  be 
stowed  upon  themselves,  as  indicating  the  things  which 
they  regarded  as  honorable,  and  of  which  their  de- 
scendants are  still  boasting,  was  the  name  of  "  robber 
barons."6 

113.  Free  Cities.— It  was  an  easy  thing  for  the  kings 
to  secure  alliances  with  these  industrial  towns.    They 

4.  Adam  Smith :  Wealth  of  Nations,  Book  III.,  Chapter  3. 

5.  "In  the  preceding  sections  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  show 
how  the  rising  power  of  capitalism  broke  down  the  medieval  forms  of 
commercial  and  industrial  regulation;    the  capitalists,  who  could  not 
domiate  them,  migrated  to  places  where  they  were  free  from  old-fash- 
ioned restrictions." — Cunningham:  The  Cambridge  Modern  History,  p. 
514  (Chapter  on  "Economic  Change"). 

6.  "Money  is  now  exactly  what  mountain  promontories  over  public 
roads  were  in   old  times.     The  barons   fought   for  them  fairly: — the 
strongest  and  cunningest  got  them;  then  fortified  them,  and  made  every 
one  who  passed  below  pay  toll.    Well,  capital  now  is  exactly  what  crags 
were  then.     Men  fight  fairly   (we  will,  at  least,  grant  so  much,  though 
it  is  more  than  we  ought),  for  their  money,  but  having  once  gotten  it, 
the  fortified  millionaire  can  make  everybody  who  passes  below  pay  toll 


CHAP.  VIII  THE  WAGE  SYSTEM  99 

were  chartered  in  great  numbers.  They  were  made  in- 
dependent of  their  local  lords.  They  were  permitted  to 
become  self-governing  democracies.  They  were  made 
up  of  bodies  of  tradesmen,  and  these  trade  organiza- 
tions were  directly  recognized,  chartered  and  made  the 
ruling  bodies  of  the  new  cities.  They  were  permitted 
to  gather  from  their  own  citizens  and  by  their  own 
officers,  the  revenues  which  would  fall  to  the  kings, 
and  so  were  freed  from  the  presence  and  the  conse- 
quent wrongs  of  the  royal  tax  gatherers,  and  were 
therefore  called  free  cities.7 

114.  The  Modern  City.— As  the  centuries  passed  and 
the  roads  were  improved,  the  armies  enlarged  and  the 
travel  and  transportation  made  secure  from  the  robber 
lords,  the  trade  of  the  cities  was  vastly  increased.  The 
kings  came  to  depend  on  them  for  the  supplies  of  their 
armies,  and  just  as  the  military  camp  and  the  slave 
camp  had  together  made  the  ancient  cities  possible,  so 
the  armies  that  opened  and  made  safe  the  roads  and 
the  workers   devoted  to  their  support,— both    these 
groups  gave  the  final  impetus  which  built  the  modern 
city. 

115.  The  Growing  Market.— The  support  which  had 
been  provided  at  the  castles  for  the  small  groups  of 
fighting  men  which  had  been  attached  to  the  castles, 
not  only  grew  in  importance  with  the  growth  of  the 
armies,  but  the  production  of  this  support  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  towns.    The  towns  became  the  producers, 
not  only  for  the  armies,  but  for  a  general  market,  which 
has  continuously  increased  from  this  beginning  until 
it  has  grown  to  be  the  world  market  of  our  own 
times. 

to  his  million  and  build  another  tower  to  his  money  castle.  And  I  can 
tell  you,  the  poor  vagrants  by  the  roadside  suffer  now  quite  as  much 
from  the  bag-baron  as  ever  they  did  from  the  crag-baron.  'Bags  and 
crags  have  much  the  same  result  on  rags'." — John  Ruskin:  "A  Crown  of 
Wild  Olives,"  p.  29.  See  also  Macaulay:  History  of  England,  Vol.  I., 
Chapter  3. 

7.     Adam  Smith :  Wealth  of  Nations,  p.  305. 


100  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

116.  Gunpowder.— This  movement  was  greatly  in- 
tensified and  quickened  by  the  invention  of  gunpow- 
der.8   The  appearance  of  gunpowder  as  a  factor  in  war 
'marked  the  disappearance  of  the  castle  as  the  seat  of 
power  and  of  the  mounted  knight  as  the  most  effective 
soldier.     Cannon  tore  away  the  castle  walls  and  no 
knight  could  safely  fix  his  lance  to  run  a  tournament 
with  a  flying  bullet.9 

117.  Worthless  Castles— The  Kings'  Soldiers.— The 
result  was  that  the  kings  organized  armies  equipped 
with  muskets,  and  answerable  directly  to  the  kings 
themselves,  without  the  intervention  of  lords  or  castles. 
The  military  establishments  of  the  feudal  lords  be- 
came useless  as  fortresses  and  were  at  last  abandoned 
for  that  purpose  to  become  the  "country  seafs"  of 
those  who  before  had  been  independent  fighting  men, 
but  under  the  new  order  became  courtiers  at  the  king's 
court.    Large  numbers  of  men,  who  had  before  been 
the  fighting  men  of  the  castles,  and  a  larger  number, 
who  had  been  the  working  men  about  the  castles,  to 
provide  the  support  of  the  fighting  men,  became  alike 
useless  to  their  lords.    The  lords  were  unable  to  pro- 
vide any  employment  by  means  of  which  they  could 
make  the  further  service  of  these  serfs  worth  having. 

118.  Discharged  Soldiers  and  Evicted  Serfs.— Both 
the  soldiers  and  the  workers  were  permitted  to  desert 
the  lords  in  great  numbers,  but  in  going  they  were  un- 
able to  take  the  means  of  making  a  living  with  them. 
The  cities,  which  had  destroyed  the  industrial  and  mil- 
itary importance  of  the  castles,  now  absorbed  this 
needless  surplus  population  from  the  feudal  estates. 

8.  Buckle:  History  of  Civilization,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  259-272. 

9.  "The  first  discovery  mentioned,    that    of   gunpowder     *     * 
has  produced  a  political  revolution  parallel  to  the  intellectual  revolu- 
tion mentioned.     The  roar  of  the  cannon  and  the  sharp  crack  of  the 
musket  gave  a  fatal  shock  to  the  old  political  methods,  for  they  revo- 
lutionized the  art  of  war." — Morris:     Civilization — an  Historical  Re- 
view, Vol.  II.,  pp.  11-12. 


CHAP.  VIII  THE  WAGE  SYSTEM  101 

They  came  to  the  cities  utterly  helpless,  without  tools, 
and  without  the  means  to  live  at  all,  except  on  the 
terms  their  new  masters  should  offer  them.10 

119.  The  Wage  System.— This  was  the  beginning 
of  the  wage  system  as  the  dominant  method  of  produc- 
tion. Wages  had  been  paid  before.11  Wages  had  been 
paid  to  those  not  slaves,  when  slavery  was  the  dom- 
inant method  of  production.  Wages  had  been  paid  to 
those  not  serfs  when  serfdom  was  the  dominant  method 
of  production.  In  the  olden  time,  wages  and  slavery 
had  existed  side  by  side,  and  slavery  had  held  its 
ground  as  the  usual  method  of  production  by  the  in- 
terference of  the  law  to  extend  slavery  when  the  wage 
worker  was  found  to  be  more  profitable  to  the  master. 
In  the  same  way,  for  a  thousand  years,  serfdom  and 
the  wage  system  existed  together,  but  serfdom  was 
the  ruling  method  of  production,  because  production 
at  the  castles  was  of  the  nature  of  a  personal  service, 
and  serfdom  involved  the  personal  subjection  of  the 
worker  to  his  one  master. 

10.  "In  the  decrease  of  personal  service,  as  villainage  died  away, 
it  became  the  interest  of  the  lord  to  diminish  the  number  of  tenants  on 
his  estate  as  it  had  been  his  interest  before  to  maintain  it,  and  he  did 
this  by  massing  the  small  allotments  together  into  larger  holdings.    By 
this  course  of  eviction  the  number  of  the  free  labor  class  was  enormously 
increased,  while  the  area  of  employment  was  diminished ;  and  the  social 
danger  from  vagabondage  and  the  'sturdy  beggar'  grew  every  day  great- 
er."— Green:   History  of  the  English  People,  p.  272;   see  also  Thorold 
Kogers :  Work  and  Wages,  Chapter  4.     ( By  sturdy  beggars  the  historian 
here  means  a  class  which  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  wage  system  in 
England  closely  resembled  the  modern  tramp,  both  in  his  general  con- 
dition and  in  the  causes  which  put  him  into  that  condition.) 

11.  "The  citizen  farmer  of  Beocia  in  the  seventh  century  before 
Christ,  appears  to  have  required  one  ox  and  one  slave  as  the  minimum 
stock  on  his  land;  on  better  stocked  farms  hired  labor  was  employed, 
both  male  and  female.  *  *  *    It  has  been  pointed  out  above  that  money 
economy  had  been  so  far  introduced  in  Athens  as  to  affect  the  relations 
between  employers  and  employeed.  A  great  part  of  the  laboring  popula- 
tion of  Athens  consisted  of  wage-earners  who  had  attained  economic 
freedom.     Some  were  citizens,  who  had  political  privileges,  and  others 
were  aliens.     It  would  be  a  mistake,  however,  to  suppose  that  bcause 
there  was  so  much  scope  for  the  employment  of  free  labor,  slavery  was 
either  limited  or  exceptional.    There  was  a  sufficient  number  of  free  la- 
borers to  affect  the  political  life  of  the  city  strongly,  but  there  was 


102  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

120.  The  Class  War.— But  new  conditions  had 
arisen.  The  subjection  of  individuals  of  the  working 
class  to  certain  individuals  of  the  ruling  class  was 
succeeded  by  the  subjection  of  the  whole  class  of  work- 
ers to  the  whole  class  of  employers;  For  the  first  time 
in  all  the  life  of  the  race,  great  companies  of  workers 
were  set  to  bidding  against  each  other  for  a  chance  to 
live.  The  wage  worker,  who  was  a  free  man  under 
serfdom  and  under  slavery,  always  had  the  alternative 
of  giving  himself  into  serfdom  or  slavery,  as  a  last 
chance  as  against  the  labor  market.  But  now  the  bid- 
ding against  each  other  no  longer  had  the  limit  of  the 
rewards  of  the  serf  or  the  fare  of  the  slave,  below 
which  the  wage  workers  would  not  be  likely  to  go  for 
any  long  period.  The  only  limit  now  was  death  by 
starvation  and  exposure.  Under  slavery  or  serfdom, 
the  economic  law  of  the  free  workers'  wages  would  be 
that  they  would  tend  to  the  point  which  would  equal 
the  provision  made  for  the  support  of  the  serf  or  the 
slave.  But  when  the  wage  system  came  in  as  the  dom- 
inant method  of  production,  this  bottom  limit  was 
taken  away,  and  the  economists  discovered,  and  began 
to  defend,  the  "iron  law  of  wages,"  namely,  that 
"wages  tend  to  the  lowest  point  at  which  the  laborers 
will  submit  in  numbers  large  enough  to  do  the  re- 
quired work."  If  they  had  added  that  the  free  wage 
earners  were  uniformly  given  the  opportunity  to  sub- 
in  addition  a  large  number  of  laborers  who  were  not  in  any  sense  eco- 
nomically free,  and  still  less  politically. 

"The  slaves  were  for  the  most  part  found  in  the  rural  districts, 
though  a  certain  amount  of  free  labor  found  employment  on  the  lands; 
still  the  estates  of  the  Athenian  gentry  were  for  the  most  part  culti- 
vated by  slave  labor.  *  *  *  Taken  altogether  the  number  of  slaves 
was  very  large;  it  was  maintained  by  importation,  chiefly  from  the 
shores  of  the  Black  Sea,  though  piracy  contributed  its  quota.  Prisoners 
taken  in  war,  and  citizens  who  had  fallen  into  poverty  or  crime,  might 
all  be  reduced  to  this  unenviable  condition.  There  was  no  Greek  who 
was  free  from  the  shadow  of  possible  slavery  as  a  fate  he  might  incur 
without  fault  of  his  own." — Cunningham:  'Western  Civilization — An- 
cient Times,  pp.  81,  108-110. 


CHAP.  VIII  THE  WAGE  SYSTEM  103 

mit  to  what  was  offered  or  starve,  at  the  time  wage 
labor  became  the  dominant  method  of  industrial  pro- 
duction, then  they  would  have  stated  the  whole  case.12 
121.  Peddlers,  Merchants  and  Helpless  Workers. - 
New  conditions  had  arisen.  The  mediaeval  peddlers 
had  become  the  manufacturers  and  merchants.  For  two 
hundred  years,  all  the  strife  of  European  history  was 
between  these  new  masters  of  the  towns  and  the  old 
masters  of  the  castles.13  But  in  all  this  strife  the  toilers 

12.  "The  economic  structure  of  capitalistic  society  has  grown  out 
of  the  economic  structure  of  feudal  society.    The  dissolution  of  the  lat- 
ter set  free  the  elements  of  the  former. 

"The  immediate  producer,  the  laborer,  could  only  dispose  of  his  own 
person  after  he  has  ceased  to  be  attached  to  the  soil  and  ceased  to  be 
a  slave-serf*  or  bondman  of  another.  To  become  a  free  seller  of  labor- 
power,  who  carries  his  commodity  wherever  he  finds  a  market,  he  must 
further  have  escaped  from  the  regime  of  the  guilds,  their  rules  for  ap- 
prentices and  journeymen,  and  the  impediments  of  their  labor  regula- 
tions. Hence  the  historical  movement  which  changes  the  producers  into 
wage-workers,  appears,  on  the  one  hand,  as  their  emancipation  from 
serfdom  and  from  the  fetters  of  the  guilds,  and  this  side  alone,  exists 
for  our  bourgeois  historians.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  these  new  freed- 
men  became  sellers  of  themselves  only  after  thy  had  been  robbed  of  all 
their  own  means  of  production,  and  of  all  the  guarantees  of  existence 
afforded  by  the  old  feudal  arrangements.  And  the  history  of  this,  their 
expropriation,  is  written  in  the  annals  of  mankind  in  letters  of  blood 
and  fire. 

"The  industrial  capitalists,  these  new  potentates,  had  on  their 
part  not  only  to  displace  the  guild  masters  of  handicrafts,  but  also 
the  feudal  lords,  the  possessors  of  the  sources  of  wealth.  In  this  re- 
spect their  conquest  of  social  power  appears  as  the  fruit  of  a  victorious 
struggle  both  against  feudal  lordship  and  its  revolting  prerogatives, 
and  against  the  guilds  and  the  fetters  they  laid  on  the  free  development 
of  production  and  the  free  exploitation  of  man  by  man.  The  chevaliers 
d'industrie,  however,  only  succeeded  in  supplanting  the  chevaliers  of 
the  sword  by  making  use  of  events  of  which  they  themselves  were  wholly 
innocent.  They  have  risen  by  means  as  vile  as  those  by  which  the  Roman 
freedman  once  on  a  time  made  himself  the  master  of  his  patronus. 

"The  starting-point  of  the  development  that  gave  rise  to  the  wage- 
laborer  as  well  as  to  the  capitalist,  was  the  servitude  of  the  laborer. 
The  advance  consisted  in  a  change  of  form  of  this  servitude,  in  the 
transformation  of  feudal  exploitation  into  capitalist  exploitation.  To 
understand  its  march,  we  need  not  go  back  very  far.  Although  we  come 
across  the  first  beginning  of  capitalist  production  as  early  as  the  four- 
teenth or  fifteenth  century,  sporadically,  in  certain  towns  of  the  Med- 
iterranean, the  capitalistic  era  dates  from  the  sixteenth  century.  Wher- 
ever it  appears,  the  abolition  of  serfdom  has  been  long  effected,  and  the 
highest  development  of  the  middle  ages,  the  existence  of  sovereign  towns, 
has  been  long  on  the  wane." — Marx:  Capital,  pp.  738-39. 

13.  "When  Europe  emerged  from  the  Middle  Ages,  the  risng  mid- 
dle-class of  the  towns  constituted  its  revolutionary  element.     It  had 


104  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  11 

in  the  fields  which  lay  about  the  castles  and  the  toilers 
of  the  factory  towns,  had  no  share  or  benefit.14  The 
free  wage  earners  were  forbidden  by  law  to  refuse  to 
work  for  whatever  they  were  offered.  The  free  wage 
earners  were  forbidden  by  law  to  organize,  or  in  any 
way  to  seek  together  for  an  advance  of  wages.  The 
free  wage  earners  were  forbidden  by  law  to  go  from  one 
town  to  another  in  quest  of  work,  unless  able  to  give 
bonds  not  to  become  a  public  charge.  The  free  wage 
earners  were  forbidden  by  law  to  work  at  their  own 
trades  unless  employed  by  those  who  held  monopolies, 
granted  by  the  kings.  The  free  wage  earners  were 
flogged,  imprisoned,  transported,  or  hanged  for  the 
slightest  offenses  against  the  prejudice  or  the  inter- 
ests of  their  employers.15 

122.  New  Countries.— New  conditions  had  arisen. 
America  had  been  discovered,  and  a  route  to  India,  by 
way  of  Cape  Good  Hope,  had  been  found  out,  and  the 
world's  commerce  was  making  its  beginning.   Sailors 
were  wanted.    And  free  working  men  were  kidnaped 
on  the  streets,  dragged  on  board  the  vessels  and  hanged 
for  mutiny,  according  to  law,  if  they  refused  the  tasks 
and  the  rations  offered  them. 

123.  Printing— The  Industrial  Revolt  Against  the 
Church.— New  conditions  had  arisen.     Printing  had 

conquered  a  recognized  position  within  mediaeval  feudal  organization, 
but  this  position,  also,  had  bcome  too  narrow  for  its  expansive  power. 
The  development  of  the  middle-class,  the  bourgeoisie,  became  incom- 
patible with  the  maintenance  of  the  feudal  system;  the  feudal  system, 
therefore,  had  to'  fall." — Engels :  Socialism,  Utopian  and  Scientific,  In- 
troduction, p.  19. 

14.  "The  eager  spirits  who  crowded  into  the  House  of  Commons, 
the  mounted  yeomen  who  rode  with  Hampden,  the  men  who  fought  and 
won  at  Marston  Moor  and  Nasby,  thought  no  more  of  the  peasant  and 
the  workman,  had  no  more  care  for  the  bettering  him,  than  the  Irish  Pa- 
triots of  1782  cared  for  the  kernes  and  cottiers  on  whose  labors  they 
lived.  For  in  the  midst  of  this  battle  of  giants,  *  *  *  the  English 
people  who  lived  by  wages  were  sinking  lower  and  lower,  and  fast  taking 
their  place  *  *  *  as  the  beggarly  hewers  and  drawers  of  prosper- 
ous and  progressive  England." — Thorold  Rogers:  Work  and  Wages, 
p.  97. 

15.    Green:     History  of  the  English  People,  pp.  259-27S, 


CHAP.  VIII  THE  WAGE  SYSTEM  105 

been  invented  and  the  towns  had  learned  to  fight  with 
printers '  ink,  and  what  before  had  been  a  war  of  spears 
and  bullets  became  a  war  of  printed  as  well  as  of 
spoken  words.  The  princes  who  had  most  used  the 
claim  of  the  divine  right  of  kings  had  secured  the  sanc- 
tion of  the  Church  to  their  pretensions,  but  the  Church 
had  learned  its  power  and  had  refused  to  give  "divine" 
credentials  to  princes  whose  conduct  it  could  not  con- 
trol. The  disowned  princes  and  rebellious  towns  or- 
ganized new  churches  of  their  own  and  the  new 
churches  became  the  defenders  of  the  new  towns  and 
the  champions  of  the  new  industrial  gospel:  "Go  ye 
unto  all  nations  and  trade  with  them." 

124.  Commerce.— The  wage  system  had  come,  and 
under  it  the  workers  were  producing  more  than  slaves 
had  produced,  but  were  receiving  less  than  had  been 
given  slaves^    The  world  commerce  had  made  its  be- 
ginning—the modern  factory  was  still  in  its  infancy, 
and  war  between  the  new  employers  and  the  old  lords 
was  at  its  height. 

125.  Political  Economy  and  the  Factory  Towns.— 
Political  economy  was  made  a  science  by  itself.    The 
subjects  it  discussed  were  the  topics  in  controversy 
between  the  towns  and  the  castles,  and  the  positions 
taken  by  the  economists  were  uniformly  on  the  side 
of  the  towns.    The  towns  wanted  free  trade.    So  did 
the  economists.     The  towns  wanted  free  labor,  with 
no  interference  by  the  state  and  no  scourge  but  hunger 
to  drive  the  laborer  to  his  task,  and  no  limit  but  his 
endurance,  either  in  the  direction  of  a  long  day  or  a 
short  ration.    So  did  the  economists..  The  towns  want- 
ed usury  laws  abolished  and  capital  free  to  make  its 
own  bargains.    So  did  the  economists.    The  towns  in- 
sisted that  their  way  of  doing  things  was  the  only 
way— was  the  natural  way.    With  the  towns,  nothing 
was  so  sacred  as  a  bargain.    They  made  no  pretensions 


106  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

of  claiming  the  divine  right  of  the  towns.  They  were 
sure  they  would  be  safely  defended  if  they  could  trace 
their  authority  to  a  bargain.  They  gave  the  outlines 
of  an  impossible  contract,  made  by  an  impossible  com- 
pany of  original  contractors,  and  named  it  the  * '  Social 
Compact."  They  made  the  subject  matter,  about  which 
these  impossible  "high"  contracting  parties  were  mak- 
ing their  bargains,  what  they  termed  man's  "natural 
rights, ' 9  and  curiously  enough,  they  found  these  rights 
and  this  compact  to  justify  exactly  what  the  towns 
were  doing  and  what  the  economists  were  contending 
for.16 

126.  Wage  System  Came  by  Choice  of  the  Masters. 
—The  wage  system  succeeded  serfdom  and  slavery,  not 
as  a  victory  won  by  the  workers,  but  as  a  change  made 
by  the  masters,  and  because  the  wage  system  was 
found  to  be  more  profitable  to  the  masters  than  either 
serfdom  or  slavery.*   This  is  known  to  have  been  the 
case,  for  the  following  reasons : 

127.  Workers  Were  Helpless.— 1.    The  workers  had 
no  power  to  compel  such  a  change.    Every  effort  which 
they  made  for  improvement  was  mercilessly  punished 


16.  Professor  Richard  T.  Ely  says,  in  his  "Political  Economy,"  p. 
312,  that  "the  most  fruitful  sources  of  economic  enquiry"  are  themselves 
modern,  and  he  so  explains  the  absence  of  any  separate  science  of  econ- 
omy until  after  the  important  financial  operations  of  governments  and 
questions  concerning  labor  had  made  their  appearance.  John  Stuart  Mill 
declares  in  the  first  sentence  in  his  "Political  Economy"  that  in  "any 
department  of  human  affairs,  practice  long  precedes  science:  systematic 
enquiry  into  the  modes  of  the  powers  of  nature  is  a  tardy  product  of  a 
long  course  of  efforts  to  use  these  powers  for  practical  ends." 

In  these  two  utterances  from  these  two  representative  men,  Mr.  Ely 
of  the  modern  school,  and  Mr.  Mill  ojf  the  classical  school  of  political 
economy,  we  have  the  statement  of  an  important  truth.  Prof.  Ely  ad- 
mits that  political  economy  had  no  occasion  to  be  "separated  out  of  a 
large  whole  and  constructed  into  a  separate  science"  until  "government 
financial  transactions  and  questions  concerning  labor"  had  become  mat- 
ters of  importance.  Mr.  Mill  offers  a  philosophical  explanation  of  thia 
circumstance.  The  science  of  political  economy  was  practiced  before  it 
was  taught.  It  was  practiced  by  the  rising  factory  towns  and  was: 
taught  in  the  interest  of  the  rising  "middle-class." 


CHAP.  VIII  THE  WAGE  SYSTEM  107 

by  both  sides  of  the  controversy  between  the  towns 
and  the  castles.  Luther  encouraged  a  war  for  the 
slaughter  of  peasants,  which  finally  killed  not  less  than 
a  hundred  thousand  of  those  who  had  been  his  own  fol- 
lowers.17 Cromwell  acted  after  the  same  manner.18  All 
of  the  old  warfare  for  liberty  was  controlled  by  the 
employers  and  merchants  of  the  new  manufacturing 
towns,  as  against  the  lords  of  the  old  system.  The 
peasants  and  factory  toilers  had  no  share  in  them,  ex- 
cept as  they  were  used  to  fight  other  men's  battles  for 
them. 

128.  Could  Have  Had  Slaves.— 2.    The  new  indus- 
try could  have  been  equipped  with  serfs  for  laborers. 
Slaves  could  have  been  obtained.    The  employers  ac- 
cepted wage  workers  instead  of  serfs  or  slaves  in  en- 
terprises in  which  they  insisted  that  the  only  motive 
was  business  for  profits.    Therefore,  wage  labor  must 
have  been  more  profitable,  or  it  would  not  have  been 
chosen. 

129.  A  Long  Evolution.— 3.    The  line  of  advance 
by  which  the  wage  system  came  into  existence  began 
with  inter-tribal  wars,  and  in  the  line  of  mastery  it 
was  warrior,  victor,  master,  lord  and  at  last  employer; 
while  in  the  line  of  subjection  it  was  warrior,  captive, 
slave,  serf  and  at  last  the  employed.    The  wage  sys- 
tem is  simply  the  last  step  in  this  long  class  struggle, 
and  is  the  last  and  final  form  of  mastery  and  servitude. 
It  had  no  other  beginning  than  war  and  has  no  other 
foundation  than  force.    Each  step  has  been  taken  by 
the  wish  of  the  masters  and  the  conditions  of  each 
form  of  servitude  have  been  enforced  by  the  power  of 

17.  "No  mercy,  no  toleration  is  due  to  the  peasants;    on  them 
should  fall  the  wrath  of  God  and  of  man."     *     *     *     They  should  "be 
treated  as  mad  dogs." — Martin  Luther,  quoted  from  his  life,  written  by 
himself,  p.   184. 

18.  Church:     Life  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  p.  328. 


108  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

the  soldier,  and  the  soldier  still  guards  the  shop  and 
mine  to  enforce  conditions  to  which  the  workers  would 
not  otherwise  submit. 

130.  Summary.— 1.  The  establishment  of  the  wage 
system  was  simply  the  denial  to  the  workers  of  any 
rights  they  may  have  had,  either  as  slaves  or  serfs. 

2.  The  wage  system  finally  succeeded  both  slavery 
and  serfdom,  because  more  profitable  for  the  masters. 

3.  The  beginning  of  the  wage  system  was  simply 
the  beginning  of  the  exercise  of  the  right  of  discharge 
by  the  masters. 

4.  The  right  to  quit  work  on  the  part  of  the  work- 
ers was  not  granted  at  the  beginning  of  the  wage  sys- 
tem, and  is  still  a  subject  of  public  controversy. 

5.  The  right  of  discharge  has  become  the  most  pow- 
erful means  of  industrial  discipline  ever  held  in  the 
hands  of  the  masters. 

6.  All  of  the  strife  of  all  of  the  years  of  controversy 
between  the  old  militarism  of  the  castles  and  the  new 
commercialism  of  the  towns  was  not  in  behalf  of  the 
workers,  but  was  simply  a  struggle  between  two  classes 
of  masters  to  determine  which  should  exploit  the 
workers. 

7.  The  old  aristocracy  lost  and  the  bargain-making 
class  won  in  this  fight,  because  of  economic  causes,  for 
instance,— 1st,  the  culmination  of  the  old  system  and 
the  impossibility  of  its  further  development  after  it 
had  brought  into  existence  the  modern  nations.  2nd,  the 
discovery  of  new  countries.    3rd,  the  development  of 
foreign  trade.    4th,  the  invention  of  gunpowder,  and 
of  printing,  and  the  overstocking  of  the  feudal  estates 
with  more  workers  than  could  be  profitably  employed, 
especially  after  the  invention  of  gunpowder,  and  the 
collapse  of  the  old  military  system. 


CHAP.  VIII  THE  WAGE  SYSTEM  109 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  Trace  the  steps  by  which  victorious  warriors  and  their  succes- 
sors became  employers  and  the  steps  by  which  those  captured  in  war 
and  their  successors  became  wage-workers. 

2.  What  was  the  one  thing  which  was  always  forbidden  under 
slavery  and  serfdom  and  has  now  become,  in  the  hands  of  employers,  the 
most  terrible  means  of  industrial  discipline? 

3.  By  what  process  were  the  modern  nations  developed  and  how 
does  it  compare  with  the  process  by  which  the  ancient  nations  were 
developed  ? 

4.  How  did  conditions  of  peace  come  to  be  established  over  large 
territories  ? 

5.  What  effect  did  this  have  on  the  production  of  wealth? 

6.  What  effect  did  the  great  increase  of  production  for  the  market 
have  on  the  castles  and  the  towns? 

7.  Why  did  the  kings  encourage  the  towns?     What  powers  did 
they  grant  to  the  towns? 

8.  What  effect  did  the  invention  of  gunpowder  have  on  the  increase 
in  the  number  of  wage  workers?    Why? 

9.  How  was  the  claim  of  the  divine  right  of  kings  used  to  extend 
their  power?     How  was  it  finally  used  against  the  kings?     What  did 
the  kings  and  the  towns  do  when  the  power  of  the  church  was  used 
against  them? 

10.  What  was  the  condition  as  to  ability  to  live  without  depend- 
ence on  others  of  those  who  were  denied  their  former  rights  under 
serfdom  and  became  wage  workers  in  large  numbers? 

11.  Name  some  of  the  things  contended  for  by  the  towns  and 
afterward  taught  by  the  political  economist. 

12.  On  whose  behalf  was  serfdom  abandoned  for  the  wage  system 
and  why?    Give  proofs. 


CHAPTEE IX 

THE  ERA  OF  INVENTION  AND  THE  INDUSTRIAL 
DEVOLUTION 

131.  Slaves,  Lands,  Tools.— The  preceding  chapters 
have  shown  how  war  created  slavery,  how  war  enforced 
the  private  appropriation  of  both  land  and  slaves,  how 
the  master  classes  have  shifted  the  manner  of  employ- 
ing the  disinherited  and  dependent  laborers  from  a 
condition  of  slavery,  first  to  serfdom,  and  then  to  the 
wage  system,  that  is,  modern  capitalism,  and,  hence, 
how  capitalism  has  had  its  origin.  Under  slavery  both 
the  land  and  the  workers  were  made  the  private  prop- 
erty of  the  masters  as  the  only  known  means  by  which 
the  workers'  products  could  be  taken  away  from  them. 
Under  serfdom  the  land  was  held  as  private  property 
of  the  masters,  but  the  workers  were  given  their  par- 
tial liberty,  the  masters  depending  on  their  private 
ownership  of  the  land  as  the  principal  means  by  which 
the  workers'  products  could  be  taken  away  from  them. 
Under  modern  capitalism  the  pretension  is  that  the 
masters  have  given  full  personal  liberty  to  the  work- 
ers to  come  and  to  go  as  they  choose.  They  depend 
wholly  on  the  private  ownership  of  both  land  and  tools 
as  the  means  of  taking  away  from  the  workers  the 
products  of  their  labor. 

no 


CHAP.  IX  THE  ERA  OF  INVENTION  111 

132.  The  Earth  Not  Restored. —The  natural  occu- 
pancy and  free  use  of  the  earth,  which  was  lost  by  the 
conquered  tribes,  as  the  result  of  barbarian  wars  which 
made  them  slaves,  was  not  restored  to  the  workers 
under  serfdom,  nor  has  it  been  restored  to  them  under 
modern  capitalism.    The  tools  of  industry  were  still 
simple  and  inexpensive  at  the  beginning  of  modern 
capitalism.    Owning  the  means  of  production,  includ- 
ing both  the  natural  resources  and  the  tools  of  indus- 
try, the  capitalists  held  in  their  own  hands  the  man- 
agement of  industry  and  appropriated  to  their  own 
benefit  the  total  products  of  industry,  giving  to  the 
workers  only  such  wages  as  would  maintain  their  ef- 
ficiency, just  as  they  gave  to  their  machines  the  oil 
necessary  to  reduce  friction  and  save  the  waste  of  wear. 
While  all  this  was  true  at  the  beginning  of  capitalism, 
modern  capitalism  could  not  have  been  what  it  is  at  all, 
had  it  not  been  for  the  wonderful  development  of  mod- 
ern machinery. 

133.  Arrested  Growth.— Throughout  the  primitive 
life  of  the  race,  each  step  in  advance  was  the  result 
of  some  improvement  in  the  means  whereby  the  race 
provided  for  its  own  existence.    At  the  close  of  this 
primitive  period  and  at  the  beginning  of  civilization, 
the  simple  tools  of  production  had  been  developed  to  a 
point  beyond  which  no  important  improvement  was 
made  during  the  whole  period  of  civilization  until  very 
recent  years. 

134.  Slavery  and  inventions.— The  introduction  of 
slavery  seems  to  have  stopped  the  process  of  invention 
and  improvement  in  the  tools  of  industry.1     Under 
slavery,  if  the  worker  improved  his  tools,  no  benefit 
could  come  to  him,  and  the  masters,  having  no  share 
in  doing  the  work,  found  it  easier  to  use  the  lash  or 
increase  the  number  of  their  slaves  than  to  take  the 

1.    "The  history  of  man  is  the  history  of  arrested  growth." — Em- 
erson:    Natural  History  of  the  Intellect. 


112  THE  EVOLUTION  Otf  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

pains  to  improve  the  tools,  even  if  they  had  had  the 
ability  to  develop  the  tools  of  industry  while  they  were 
themselves  devoted  to  the  use  of  the  weapons  of  war. 

135.  Militarism  and  Politics.— Throughout  slavery 
and  serfdom  the  world's  advance  was  marked,  not  by 
the  introduction  of  new  tools,  but  chiefly  by  changes  in 
the  organization  of  labor  and  of  governments  which 
were  military,  both  in  the  form  of  their  organization 
and  in  the  purpose  of  their  existence.    The  world's  pro- 
gress for  five  thousand  years  was  not  in  the  line  of 
improving  the  implements  of  industry,  but  by  conquer- 
ing small  tribal  organizations  and  establishing  other 
larger  organizations  in  their  stead,  which  are  now 
growing  into  a  world-wide  political  power,  doing  police 
duty  for  a  world-wide  industrial  and  commercial  life. 
This  task  of  conquest  was  first  undertaken  when  the 
early  tribes  had  outgrown  their  boundaries.    It  was 
carried  on  for  long  centuries  with  no  knowledge  on  the 
part  of  the  actors  as  to  the  final  economic  effects  of 
the  conflicts  in  which  they  were  engaged. 

136.  Culmination  of  Growth  of  Tools,  Organization 
and  Conquest.— In  the  present  struggle,  there  is  a  cul- 
mination of  both  the  development  of  organizations  of 
men  and  of  the  great  improvement  of  the  tools  of  in- 
dustry.   At  last  the  control  of  this  world-life  on  an 
industrial  and  commercial  basis  is  the  known  cause  of 
the  conscious  and  purposeful  struggle  of  all  the  na- 
tions of  the  world.    The  methods  of  organization  under 
which  labor  is  employed  and  the  tools  with  which  its 
efforts  are  made  productive,  combine  together  to  usher 
in  this  last  new  era%    The  present  forms  of  industrial 
organization  of  both  laborers  and  capitalists  are  the 
culmination  of  the  wage  system;  this  system,  we  have 
seen,  was  the  outgrowth  of  both  slavery  and  serfdom. 
It  still  maintains  conditions  under  which  those  who 
toil  are  dependent  for  the  opportunity  to  do  so,  upon 
those  who  are  themselves  not  workers,  nor  are  they  so 


CHAP.  IX  THE  ERA  OF  INVENTION  113 

vitally  interested  in  the  continuance  and  effectiveness 
of  industry  as  are  the  workers. 

137.  Machinery.— The  development  of  machinery, 
under  which  productive  ability  is  greatly  increased, 
has  come  to  its  present  effectiveness,  together  with  the 
culmination  of  the  world's  conquest  and  the  culmina- 
tion of  the  forms  of  industrial  organization. 

It  is  the  purpose  of  this  chapter  to  take  up  the  im- 
provement of  tools  at  the  place  where  it  was  dropped 
at  the  close  of  the  fourth  chapter,  and  to  point  out  the 
conditions  under  which  the  invention  and  improvement 
in  the  tools  of  industry  have  been  renewed,  and  to  show 
the  relation  of  this  great  industrial  improvement  to 
the  development  of  the  forms  of  the  organization  of 
industry. 

138.  The  Free  Cities,  the  American  Frontier  and  In- 
ventions.—In  the  eighth  chapter  attention  was  called 
to  the  free  cities  of  northern  Europe  and  to  the  revival 
of  industry  under  the  free,  self-employing  laborers  who 
created  those  cities;  once  more,  after  a  lapse  of  five 
thousand  years,  these  new  cities  gave  to  the  individual 
worker  a  direct  interest  in  the  effectiveness  of  the  tools 
of  his  own  industry.    The  improvement  which  had  sud- 
denly ceased  with  the  beginning  of  slavery  was  here 
renewed  with  the  renewal  of  self-employment.     The 
revival  of  inventions  extended  to  America,  for  wher- 
ever self -employment  went,  there  the  genius  of  the  in- 
ventor once  more  sprang  into  activity,  and  the  im- 
provement of  tools  became  again  a  great  factor  in 
the  growth  of  the  race  life. 

139.  Industrial  Occupation  and  Inventions.— But 
the  revival  of  inventions  was  under  conditions  not  in 
existence  under  barbarism.    The  struggle  for  existence 
had  become  distinctly  an  industrial  struggle.  Industry 
was  no  longer  the  work  of  women  only  and  the  indus- 
trial employments  were  not  now  supplemented  by  the 
hunters  or  the  fishermen,  not  even  by  the  spoils  of 


114  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

war  as  a  regular  dependence,  in  the  struggle  for  the 
means  of  life.  For  the  military  had  not  only  ceased  to 
be  in  any  way  a  source  of  income  to  the  state,  but  had 
become  instead  a  direct  burden  on  the  industrial 
classes.  In  fact,  the  work  of  the  soldiers  becomes  more 
and  more,  not  so  much  to  conquer  other  countries  in 
order  to  enrich  their  own  countries,  as  to  police  the  in- 
dustrial workers  and  enforce  submission  to  the  dictates 
of  their  capitalistic  masters.2 

All  workers  of  both  sexes  were  now  industrial  work- 
ers, many  of  them  with  a  direct  interest  in  the  value 
of  their  own  products.  And  the  old,  rude  tools  handed 
down  from  barbarism,  and  across  the  whole  period  of 


2.  "The  economic  disturbances  since  1873  contingent  on  war  ex- 
penditures are  not  different  in  kind  from  those  of  former  periods,  but 
much  greater  in  degree.  This  subject  has  been  so  thoroughly  investi- 
gated and  is  so  well  understood  that  nothing  more  need  be  said  in 
this  connection  than  to  point  out  that  men  in  actual  service  at  the 
present  time  in  the  armies  and  navies  of  Europe  are  in  excess  of 
4,000,000,  or  about  one  to  every  fifteen  of  all  the  men  of  arms-bearing 
age — all  consumers  and  no  producers.  The  number  of  men  in  reserve 
who  are  armed,  subject  to  drill,  and  held  ready  for  service  at  any 
moment,  is  about  14,250,000  in  addition.  Including  the  reserves,  the 
present  standing  armies  and  navies  of  Europe  require  the  services  of 
one  in  every  five  of  the  men  of  arms-bearing  age,  or  one  in  every 
twenty-four  of  the  whole  population.  It  is  also  estimated  that  it  re- 
quires the  constant  product  of  one  peasant  engaged  in  agriculture,  or 
of  one  operative  engaged  in  manufacturing  in  the  commercial  and  man- 
ufacturing states  of  Europe,  to  equip  and  sustain  one  soldier;  that 
it  requires  the  labor  of  one  man  to  be  diverted  from  every  two  hundred 
acres;  and  that  a  sum  equivalent  to  $1.10  shall  be  deducted  from  the 
annual  product  of  every  acre.  The  present  aggregate  annual  expendi- 
ture of  Europe  for  military  and  naval  purposes  is  probably  in  excess 
of  a  thousand  million  dollars.  We  express  this  expenditure  in  terms 
of  money,  but  it  means  work  performed;  not  that  abundance  of  useful 
and  desirable  things  may  be  increased,  but  decreased;  not  that  toil 
may  be  lightened,  but  augmented. 

"As  to  the  ultimate  outcome  of  this  state  of  affairs— ostensibly 
kept  up  for  the  propagation  or  promotion  of  civilization — there  is  an 
almost  perfect  agreement  of  opinion  among  those  who  have  studied 
it;  and  that  is,  that  the  existence  and  continuance  of  the  present  mil- 
itary system  of  Continental  Europe  is  impoverishing  its  people,  im- 
pairing their  industrial  strength,  effectually  hindering  progress,  driv- 
ing the  most  promising  men  out  of  the  several  states  to  seek  peaceful 
homes  in  foreign  countries,  and  ultimately  threatening  the  destruction 
of  the  whole  fabric  of  society." — Wells:  Recent  Economic  Changes,  pp. 
322-23. 


CHAP.  IX  THE  ERA  OF  INVENTION  116 

slavery  and  serfdom,  rapidly  grew  into  machines  in- 
stead of  tools.3 

140.  Tools  and  Machines.— The  difference  between 
a  machine  and  a  tool  has  been  the  subject  of  some  dis- 
cussion, but  the  real  importance  of  this  question  is  not 
so  much  in  the  technical  or  mechanical  descriptions  of 
tools  or  machines,  as  in  the  economic  consequences  of 
the  development  of  the  machines  and  their  general  use 
in  production. 

There  are  four  such  important  differences  between 
tools  and  machines,  (i)  The  tools  were  cheap,  any- 
body could  own  them.  The  machines  are  expensive, 
only  the  joint  savings  of  many  workers  or  the  holders 
of  great  inherited  properties  can  possess  them.  (2) 
The  tools  were  simple,  anybody  could  use  them  single- 
handed  and  alone.  The  machines  are  large  and  com- 
plicated, and  require  the  joint  labor  of  many.  (3)  The 
tools  with  single-handed  industry  were  not  produc- 
tive enough  to  yield  a  product  much  beyond  the  needs 
of  the  worker's  family,  and  hence  their  use  did  not  fun- 
damentally depend  on  a  public  market4  for  the  goods 
produced,  but  instead,  principally,  on  a  private  need 

3.  "An  instrument  of  labor  is  a  thing,  or  a  complex  of  things, 
which  the  laborer  interposes  between  himself  and  the  subject  of  his 
labor,  and  which  serves  as  the  conductor  of  his  activity. 

"Ha  makes  use  of  the  mechanical,  physical  and  chemical  prop- 
erties of  some  substances  in  order  to  make  other  substances  subser- 
vient to  his  aims.  *  *  *  Thus  nature  becomes  one  of  the  organs 
of  his  activity,  one  that  he  annexes  to  his  own  bodily  organs,  adding 
stature  to  himself.  *  *  *  As  the  earth  is  his  original  larder,  so 
too,  it  is  his  original  tool  house.  It  supplies  him,  for  instance,  with 
stones  for  throwing,  grinding,  pressing,  cutting,  etc.  The  earth  itself 
is  an  instrument  of  labor."— -Marx :  Capital,  p.  158. 

4.  "We  must  now  descend  from  the  consideration  of  the  Industry 
and  the  Market,  or  group  of  related  businesses,  to  examine  the  char- 
acter and  structure  of  the  unit  of  industry — the  Business. 

"In  a  study  of  the  composition  or  co-operation  of  labor  and  capital 
in  a  Business  before  the  era  of  machine-production  there  are  five  points 
of  dominant  importance — (1)  the  ownership  of  the  material;  (2)  the 
ownership  of  the  tools;  (3)  the  ownership  of  the  productive  power; 
(4)  the  relations  subsisting  between  the  individual  units  of  labor;  (5) 
the  work-place." — Hobson:  The  Evolution  of  Modern  Capitalism,  pp. 
34-35. 


116  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

for  their  use.  The  producer  was  also  the  consumer. 
But  the  machine  produces  goods  on  so  large  a  scale  that 
the  wide  market  is  an  indispensable  condition  of  the 
use  of  the  machine.5  And  (4)  each  industry  carried  on 
with  hand  tools  completed  its  own  products,  but  the 
introduction  of  machinery  involves  the  establishment 
of  great  industries  whose  finished  product  becomes  the 
raw  material  of  other  producers,  and  so  the  natural, 
untouched,  raw  materials  go  through  the  hands  of 
many  manufacturers  on  their  way  from  a  state  of  na- 
ture to  the  finished  product.  And  hence  the  machine 
involves  the  manufacturers  in  relations  of  great  mutual 
dependence  on  each  other.  This  last  item  is  made  par- 
ticularly clear  in  the  matter  of  the  great  improvements 
in  the  methods  of  transportation.  Here,  then,  is  the 
gist  of  the  economic  consequences  of  the  transition 
from  the  use  of  simple  tools  to  the  use  of  the  great  mod- 
ern machines.  The  ownership  and  use  of  the  simple 
tools  and  the  consumption  of  the  products  were  all 
mainly  an  individual  matter,  and  the  interdependent 
relations  of  manufacturers  were  not  usually  of  a  serious 
nature.  In  the  case  of  the  machines,  joint  ownership, 
joint  use,  the  public  market,  and  relations  of  great  mu- 
tual dependence  of  the  different  enterprises  on  each 
other,  are  all  inevitable. 

141.  The  Industrial  Revolution.— Now  notice  some 
of  the  consequences  of  this  transition.  The  introduc- 
tion of  modern  capitalism  left  the  capitalist  in  control 
of  the  means  of  production,  but  at  the  beginning  of 
modern  capitalism,  the  tools  were  so  simple  and  so  in- 
expensive that  self-employing  and  self-supporting  la- 
bor was  still  possible.  Using  the  old  simple  tools,  the 
worker  could  equip  himself  out  of  savings  from  his 
wages  and  then  employ  his  own  labor,  and  in  that  way 
escape  from  the  exploitation  of  the  employer. 

5.  "The  agricultural  and  other  machinery  in  this  country  is  equiv- 
alent to  the  combined  effort  of  a  population  of  over  400,000,000."— 
The  Trust:  Its  Bjooik,  p.  6. 


CHAP.  IX  THE  ERA  OF  INVENTION  117 

Here  is  the  core  and  essence  of  the  Industrial  Bevo- 
lution,  resulting  from  the  introduction  of  modern  ma- 
chinery:6—Personal  independence  was  the  most 
marked  characteristic  of  the  old  hand  producer.  Mu- 
tual inter- dependence  is  inevitable  under  machine  pro- 
duction. The  helpless  personal  dependence  of  the  man 
without  machines  on  the  man  with  machines  is  in- 
evitable so  long  as  machine  production  is  carried  on 
under  capitalism.  Hence  it  is  seen  that  the  develop- 
ment of  the  machines  made  production  a  social  mat- 


6.  "The  chief  material  factor  in  the  evolution  of  Capitalism  is 
machinery."  —  Hobson:  The  Evolution  of  Modern  Capitalism,  p.  5. 

«  *  *  #  por  au  authorities  agree  that  the  'industrial  revolu- 
tion/ the  event  which  has  divided  the  nineteenth  century  from  all 
antecedent  time,  began  with  the  year  1760."  —  Adams:  Law  of  Civil- 
ization and  Decay,  p.  313. 

"A  girl  with  a  sewing  machine  can  do  the  work  of  twelve  men, 
but  on  aggregating  the  labor  expended  in  making  a  sewing  machine 
we  find  that  one  machine  embodies  a  man's  work  for  four  and  a  half 

."  —  Macrosty:     Trusts  and  the  State,  pp.  120-21. 


"The  starting  point  and  common  impulse  from  which  these  various 
streams  of  evolution  preceded  was  the  invention  within  a  space  of 
a  few  years  during  the  last  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century  of  a 
number  of  machines  which  entirely  revolutionized  the  old  methods  of 
industry,  and  which  have  been  the  means  of  introducing  into  the  states- 
manship of  the  nineteenth  century  problems  unknown  in  the  world  be- 
fore. 

"These  machines  were  the  spinning-  jenny  of  Hargreave,  the  water- 
frame  of  Arkwright,  the  mules  of  Crompton  and  Kelly,  the  power-loom, 
of  Cartwright,  and  last  and  not  least  important,  the  steam  engine 
with  its  common  application  to  all  industries  alike.  Previous  to  this, 
the  occupations  of  spinning  and  weaving,  of  cutlery  and  hardware 
manufacture,  had  been  carried  on  under  what  had  been  called  the 
'domestic  system,'  that  is  to  say,  in  farmhouses  and  in  the  dwellings 
of  the  thousands  of  small  free  holders  who  still  remained  unswallowed 
by  the  large  proprietors,  but  mainly  in  the  numberless  little  homesteads 
rented  for  the  purpose  and  situate  in  the  fields  surrounding  the  great 
centers  of  industry.  In  these  latter,  little  pasture  farms  originally 
of  from  two  to  ten  acres,  all  the  processes  of  spinning  and  weaving, 
and  dyeing,  were  carried  out;  each  householder  having  two  or  three 
looms,  and  employing  eight  or  ten  hands,  men,  women  and  children; 
the  product,  when  finished,  being  taken  to  the  markets  held  periodically 
in  some  of  the  neighboring  towns,  to  which  merchants  from  the  larger 
centers  came  to  buy  either  for  home  consumption  or  for  exportation 
to  the  Colonies  or  abroad.  For  ages  the  rule  had  been  that  the  work- 
man himself  owned  his  own  machine  as  well  as  the  raw  materials  of 
his  industry;  but  as  the  demand  increased  and  there  was  difficulty  in 
getting  enough  yarn  from  the  spinners,  the  merchants  from  the  towns 


118  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

ter  rather  than  a  private  affair.  It  left  the  capitalist 
still  the  owner  of  the  great  machinery  of  production, 
just  as  the  worker  had  formerly  owned  his  own  small 
tools,  and  hence  it  not  only  made  production  social, 
rather  than  private,  hut  made  the  capitalist  the  private 
owner  and  the  petty  master  of  social  interests.  This 
made  the  capitalists  the  private  masters  of  social  neces- 
sities just  as  if  social  necessities  could  properly  be  pri- 
vate affairs,  subject  to  private  ownership,  to  private 

began  to  supply  the  raw  material  themselves,  and  to  give  it  out  to  the 
weavers;  still  later,  they  supplied  not  only  the  material  but  the  looms 
also,  which  were  now  set  up  in  the  buildings  belonging  to  these  mer- 
chants, so  that  there  was  nothing  left  to  the  workman  but  his  labor. 
This,  it  is  to  be  observed,  was  before  the  new  machines  had  revolution- 
ized the  industry;  anl  yet  so  long  as  the  little  homestead  weavers 
scattered  over  the  land  held  their  own,  wages  were  kept  up  and  even 
raised  to  meet  the  increased  demand  of  the  ever-growing  population  of 
the  country  and  the  Colonies.  The  condition  of  the  workmen  accord- 
ingly, in  spite  of  the  rapidly  rising  price  of  bread,  was  one  of  com- 
parativ  happiness  and  comfort;  and  this  continued  during  all  the  years 
of  the  Factory  System;  wages  being  as  much  as  doubled  to  meet  the 
enormous  demand  which  followed  the  cheapening  of  the  prices  of  woolen 
and  cotton  goods  by  the  new  machines. 

"In  the  meantime  the  steam  engine,  which  had  been  invented 
years  before,  was  being  applied  to  the  new  machinery;  and  thus  fac- 
tories, which  when  water  power  alone  was  used  had  been  scattered 
tories,  which  when  water  yoer  alone  was  used  had  been  scattered 
about  the  country  on  the  banks  of  streams,  were  now  transferred  and 
confined  to  a  few  of  the  great  towns — Leeds,  Halifax,  Manchester, 
Bolton  and  the  rest — where  an  unlimited  supply  of  labor  could  be 
picked  up  from  the  streets.  And  still  the  wages  of  the  more  skilled 
workmen  were  maintained,  owing  to  the  enormous  increase  of  the 
demand.  But  when  the  power-loom  was  invented  and  applied;  and 
when  the  factory  chimneys  in  consequence  rose  ever  thicker  against 
the  sky-line,  and  vast  populations  of  human  beings  drawn  from  all 
the  winds  swarmed  in  the  long  rows  of  dingy  streets  that  lay  along- 
side of  them  and  about  their  base;  and  when  the  output,  as  was  in- 
evitable sooner  or  later,  caught  up  with  and  at  at  last  overtopped  the 
demand,  then  came  those  recurring  periods  of  ruinous  recoil  in  the 
shape  of  over-production,  gluts,  falling  markets,  half-time  and  stag- 
nation; and — what  was  unknown  in  the  world  before  then, — wages, 
from  the  sheer  impossibility  of  regulating  them  in  the  jumble  and 
confusion  which  the  new  machinery  had  caused,  were  suffered  to  be 
forced  up  and  down  at  the  caprice  of  the  masters  or  according  to 
the  state  of  the  market,  as  if  the  men  had  been  bales  of  goods  or 
sacks  of  coal.  Seven  centuries  had  come  and  gone  since  the  men  of 
these  islands  had  fought  hand  to  hand  with  the  foreign  invader;  and 
meanwhile  the  laborer  had  passed  by  slow  and  gradual  stages  from 
serfdom  to  freedom;  but  he  had  all  along  been  assured  of  a  decent 
subsistence,  either  by  his  legal  right  as  serf,  or  by  wages  fixed  by 
Justices  of  the  Peace  acting  as  arbiters  between  master  and  man. 


CHAP.  IX  THE  ERA  OF  INVENTION  119 

control  and  hence  to  the  private  appropriation  of  the 
social  products.7 

142.  The  Organization  of  Industry  and  Inventions. 
—It  was  the  application  of  inventive  genius  to  the  or- 
ganization of  labor,  as  well  as  to  the  improvement  of 
tools,  which  made  possible  this  development  of  ma- 
chines instead  of  simple,  single-handed  tools.  So  long 
as  the  worker  was  manufacturing  shoes,  working  by 
himself,  and  making  the  whole  shoe  with  his  own  labor, 
it  never  occurred  to  him  to  use  other  tools  than  the 
simple  hand  tools  involved  in  the  process.  But  the 
division  of  labor,  so  that  one  worked  at  tanning  the 
leather,  another  at  cutting  the  shoes,  another  at  putting 
on  soles,  another  at  the  heels,  suggested  the  possibility 
of  the  use  of  machines  to  do  the  simple  things  which 
each  separate  part  of  the  process  involved.  No  inventor 
would  ever  have  undertaken  to  invent  a  machine  which 


And  now  after  seven  centuries  of  peace,  war  had  broken  out,  but 
this  time  industrial  war,  fought,  it  is  true  with  legal  weapons,  but  all 
the  more  subtle  and  deadly  on  that  account,  and  waged  for  the 
golden  spoils  which  the  new  inventions  were  pouring  out  in  sackfuls 
along  the  streets  to  be  scrambled  for, — and  with  issue  in  the  event  of 
failure,  starvation.  In  this  struggle,  the  masters,  by  a  curious  con- 
junction of  circumstances,  ill-timed  for  the  men,  easily  got  the  up- 
per hand,  and  holding  the  men  down,  bound  hand  and  foot  in  the  meshes 
of  some  old  statutes  and  regulations.  *  *  *" — Crozier:  History 
of  Intellectual  Development,  Vol  III,  pp.  47***50. 

7.  "To  be  a  capitalist  is  to  have  not  only  a  purely  personal,  but 
a  social  status  in  production.  Capital  is  a  collective  product,  and  only 
by  the  united  action  of  many  members,  nay,  in  the  last  resort,  only  by 
the  united  action  of  all  members  of  society,  can  it  be  set  in  motion. 

"Capital  is  therefore  not  a  personal;  it  is  a  social  power. 

"When,  therefore,  capital  is  converted  into  common  property,  into 
the  property  of  all  members  of  society,  personal  property  is  not  thereby 
transformed  into  social  property." — Marx  and  Engles :  Communist  Mani- 
festo, p.  35. 

"The  conditions  of  labor  underwent  (in  the  Industrial  Revolution) 
the  greatest  modification  they  have  experienced  since  the  origin 
of  society.  *  *  *  That  transformation  from  patriarchal  labor  into 
industrial  feudalism,  in  which  the  workman,  the  new  serf  of  the  work- 
shop, seems  bound  to  the  glebe  of  wages,  did  not  alarm  the  English 
producers,  although  it  had  the  character  of  suddenness  quite  adapted 
to  disturb  their  habits.  They  were  far  from  foreseeing  that  machinery 
would  bring  them  so  much  power  and  so  many  anxious  cares." — Blanqui: 
History  of  Political  Economy,  pp.  430-31. 


120  THE  EVOLUTON  OF  CAPITALISM  PABT!! 

would  make  a  shoe,  but  when  a  worker  was  set  to  put- 
ting on  heels,  he  was  not  long  in  devising  a  machine 
which  greatly  quickened  the  process  and  added  largely 
to  the  volume  and  value  of  his  product. 

143.  Power  Machinery,  Connecting  Machinery  and 
Machine  Tools.— Invention  has  been  developed  along 
three  lines.8 

(1)  One  has  been  devices  by  which  other  forces 
could  be  made  to  take  the  place  of  hand  power.  It  is 
said  that  a  horse,  when  harnessed  and  set  to  the  plow, 
could,  at  the  beginning,  turn  thirty  times  as  much  soil 
in  a  day  as  its  driver  was  before  able  to  turn  with  a 
spade.  The  treadmill,  the  sweepstake  and  devices  for 
the  use  of  wind,  water,  steam,  electricity  and  the  gas 
engine,  are  all  instances  in  the  development  of  machines 
whose  purpose  is  to  make  available  other  forces  for 
motive  power  to  supplant  hand  power.  As  the  horse 
was  first  used,  the  effectiveness  of  machines  since  in- 
troduced for  this  purpose  is  measured  by  so  many 
"horse-power."  (2)  The  development  of  tools  in- 
tended to  take  the  place  of  the  hands  of  the  worker. 
*  (3)  The  shafting,  belts,  chains  and  knuckle  joints, 
with  which  the  power  is  carried  from  the  power  ma- 
chine to  the  machine  tool.  But  this  has  not  been  one 
of  such  difficulties  as  were  met  with  in  providing  the 
power  or  in  devising  the  machines  which  would  take 
the  place  of  the  skill  of  the  human  hands. 

The  automatic  machine,  for  taking  the  place  of  the 
human  hands,  is  being  developed  with  great  rapidity. 
It  was  only  a  few  years  ago  that  watchmakers  supposed 
that  their  craft  was  beyond  the  reach  of  machinery; 
but  now  no  human  hands  can  make  the  works  of  a 
watch  so  accurately  as  the  machines  since  devised  for 
that  purpose.  It  is  claimed  that  the  labor  cost  for  the 
works  of  a  standard  watch  is  but  fifteen  cents  and  that 

8.     Marx:     Capital,  pp.  367-68. 


CHAP.  IX  THE  ERA  OF  INVENTION  121 

the  cutting  machinery  can  be  adjusted  to  the  one  two- 
hundredth  part  of  a  hair. 

The  trend  of  development  is,  that  whatever  needs 
to  be  lifted,  the  working  man  is  required  simply  to  at- 
tach the  machine,  and  that  whatever  needs  to  be  formed 
in  the  process  of  manufacture,  the  working  man  is  re- 
quired in  order  to  stop  and  start  the  machine,  but  even 
in  his  function  as  a  starter  his  occupation  is  being 
taken  away. 

Fifty  years  ago,  in  the  manufacture  of  nails,  it  re- 
quired a  man  with  the  training  of  an  apprentice  and 
the  skill  and  care  of  an  experienced  worker,  but  today 
a  nail  machine  makes  sixteen  nails  at  a  stroke  and  all 
the  worker  needs  to  do  is  to  hang  up  that  many  coils 
of  wire,  adjust  them  to  the  machinery,  set  it  in  mo- 
tion, and  come  around  again  to  renew  the  supply  when 
the  machinery  has  eaten  up  and  transformed  into  nails 
the  raw  materials  so  placed  within  its  reach. 

144.  The  Skilled  Worker  and  Machinery.— In  the 
old  industry,  the  skill  was  in  the  hands  of  the  worker. 
The  simple  tools  are  of  little  value  except  the  trained 
hand,  which  has  learned  its  trade  in  long  years  of 
practice,  is  present  to  wield  the  tools.    The  genius  of 
modern  industry  expresses  itself,  not  in  the  skill  of 
the  worker,  but  in  the  intricate  and  difficult  contriv- 
ances of  the  inventor.    Equipped  with  this  machinery, 
women  are  driving  their  husbands  out  of  the  shops, 
and  children  are  displacing  their  mothers,  and  the 
skilled  trades  are  disappearing  before  the  onslaught  of 
the  inventor  in  a  conflict  where  no  other  form  of  at- 
tack had  been  able  to  withstand  the  organizations  of 
these  trades. 

145.  Displacement  of  Labor.— The  first  economic  ef- 
fect of  labor-saving  machinery  is  to  displace  labor.9 

9.    "But  in  the  great  majority  of  cases,  the  whole  advantage  of  a 
new  discovery,  a  new  process,  and    a    new    machine    rests    with    the 


122  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

It  has  been  argued  that  such  labor  is  re-employed  in 
making  machinery.  If  it  were  all  so  re-employed,  then 
there  would  be  no  saving  of  labor.  It  is  argued  that  it 
is  re-employed  in  producing  new  articles;  that  these 
new  articles  are  demanded  for  the  use  of  those  whose 
income  is  enlarged  by  the  existence  of  the  machine,  and 
the  enlargement  of  income  means  a  corresponding  en- 
largement of  expenditure;  that  the  additional  expendi- 
ture means  additional  articles  of  use,  and  that,  there- 
fore, together  with  this  advancing  of  the  standard  of 
living,  comes  necessarily  the  re-employment  of  the  la- 
bor displaced  by  the  new  machine. 

But  the  answer  is,  that  the  new  machine  is  constant- 
ly entering  every  new  field  and  that  the  process  of  dis- 
placement is  as  continuous  in  the  new  demands  which 
the  increased  incomes  of  the  owners  of  the  machines 
enable  them  to  make  as  in  the  old  ones;  that  the  ma- 
chinery is  meeting  the  worker  at  every  point,  increas- 
ing the  productivity  of  the  shops  while  it  lessens  the 
number  of  workers  required,  and  that  this  displacement 
occurs  all  along  the  line.  It  is  absurd  to  contend  that 
the  displaced  labor  in  one  shop  finds  re-employment  in 
another,  while  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  process  of  dis- 
placement is  going  on  in  all  shops. 

146.  Loss  of  Solidarity.— One  of  the  most  important 
effects  of  the  modern  development  of  machinery  on  the 
question  of  labor  has  been  that  during  the  time  of  its 
development  and  under  the  wage  system,  it  has  divided 
the  workers  into  all  sorts  of  smaller  groups;  has  pro- 
vided for  some  much  better  opportunities  than  for  oth- 
ers, and  while  there  has  been  a  continuous  struggle  be- 

capitalist  employer.  The  great  inventions  of  steam  and  the  machin- 
ery employed  in  textile  fabrics  remained  with  those  who  invented  and 
applied  these  capital  forces  and  processes.  The  artisan,  by  whose 
labor  the  development  of  this  wealth  was  alone  possible,  became  more 
impoverished  and  stinted.  If  population  was  stimulated,  it  was  made 
more  miserable,  and  population  will  grow  rapidly  when  the  condition  of 
the  people  is  deteriorated." — Rogers:  Work  and  Wages,  pp.  545-46. 


CHAP.  IX  THE  ERA  OF  INVENTION  123 

tween  those  in  possession  of  the  means  of  production 
and  those  without  any  ownership  in  them,  still  many 
of  those  without  ownership  have  been  able  to  deliver 
themselves  from  the  necessity  of  further  toil  through 
industry,  thrift  or  theft,  and  so  by  becoming  the  owners 
of  tools  which  others  must  use,  escape  themselves  from 
the  working  class. 

147.  Individual  Deliverance.— As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  development  of  the  equipment  and  organization  of 
modern  capitalism  has  been  almost  wholly  the  achieve- 
ment of  those  who  were  themselves  from  the  ranks  of 
the  workers.  In  the  early  development  of  industry,  and 
especially  on  the  frontiers,  there  were  industrial  and 
commercial  opportunities  by  which  a  part  of  the  work- 
ers could  effect  an  advance  over  the  fortunes  of  their 
fellows,  and  so  by  looking  out  for  themselves  provide 
for  themselves,  each  on  his  own  account,  which  tended 
to  obscure,  if  not  obliterate,  all  sense  of  solidarity  of 
interest  among  the  workers  themselves. 

148.  Workers  Again  Bound  to  Their  Class.— But  as 
the  organization  and  equipment  of  industry  becomes 
more  perfect,  it  is  becoming  increasingly  difficult  for 
a  born  worker  to  escape  from  his  class.    The  brightest 
minds  among  the  workers  a  hundred  years  ago  were 
giving  their  whole  strength  to  the  achievement  of  their 
own  individual  deliverance  from  the  working  class  and 
to  securing  to  themselves  position  and  standing  among 
the  builders  of  new  industrial  establishments.    But  as 
advance  is  made  toward  completion  of  industrial  plants 
and  the  perfection  of  industrial  equipments,  and  es- 
pecially the  organization  of  industry  on  a  world-wide 
basis,  the  unusually  gifted,  along  with  the  rest,  will  be 
doomed  to  remain  in  the  ranks  of  the  workers. 

This  is  true,  not  only  of  the  trades,  but  of  the  profes- 
sions. It  is  becoming  increasingly  difficult  to  make  a 
beginning  in  any  of  the  professions,  or,  being  a  child 


124  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

of  poverty,  to  work  one's  way  out  of  the  dependent  re- 
lations into  which  such  a  birth  delivers  him. 

149.  The  Strong  Men— To  Save  Themselves  Must 
Save  Their  Class,— It  was  the  men  of  unusual  ability 
among  the  workers  of  the  last  generation  who  have  had 
the  larger  share  in  creating  the  capitalism  of  this  gen- 
eration, but  the  men  of  the  same  gifts  in  this  genera- 
tion and  the  next  will  be  able  to  save  themselves  only 
by  creating  conditions  under  which  all  others  may 
achieve  deliverance  along  with  themselves. 

The  culmination  of  capitalism  will  close  the  doors 
of  opportunity  against  the  very  gifts  and  powers  among 
the  workers  which  at  the  first  so  largely  created  capital- 
ism, and  in  the  end  these  same  gifts  and  powers  for 
organization  and  direction  which  have  arisen  from 
among  the  workers  to  create  modern  capitalism,  in  the 
past  generations,  will  in  this  or  the  next  generation 
capture,  for  the  use  of  all,  the  organization  and  equip- 
ment which  the  genius  of  the  workers  created,  but 
which  the  forms  of  capitalism  have  diverted  from  the 
saving  of  labor  to  the  oppression  of  the  laborers. 

And  so  this  era  of  invention,  which  began  with  some 
of  the  workers,  once  more  their  own  employers,  which 
vastly  and  rapidly  improved  the  means  of  production, 
which  excited  the  hopes  of  the  wage  worker  to  the 
degree  of  obscuring  for  many  years  the  real  economic 
class  lines,  and  finally  set  the  statesmen  of  whole  con- 
tinents to  denying  the  existence  of  economic  classes  at 
all,  culminates  with  bringing  the  workers  once  more 
to  realize  the  common  dependence  of  the  whole  class  of 
the  workers  on  the  whole  class  of  the  capitalist  em- 
ployers. This  struggle  of  the  worker  to  own  his  own 
shop,  the  struggle  of  the  small  shop  to  become  a  large 
one,  the  effort  of  the  workers  to  escape  one  at  a  time, 
has  utterly  failed  to  deliver  the  class  of  workers  and 
the  economic  class  lines  were  never  clearer  between 


CHAP.  IX  THE  ERA  OF  INVENTION  125 

master  and  slave,  between  lord  and  serf,  than  they  are 
now  between  the  exploiter  and  the  exploited,  in  these 
days  of  the  triumph  of  the  machine,  in  its  equipment  of 
capitalism,  and  the  triumph  of  capitalism,  in  making 
the  public  interests  of  all  the  private  possessions  of  a 
few.10 

150.  Summary.— 1.  Throughout  the  primitive  life 
of  the  race,  each  advance  in  the  social  life  was  the  re- 
sult of  an  improvement  in  the  tools  or  weapons  used  in 
providing  existence  or  defense. 

2.  The  improvement  of  tools  practically  came  to  a 
sudden  stop  with  the  beginning  of  slavery,  which  be- 
came universal  with  the  coming  of  civilization. 

3.  Throughout  the  period  of  civilization,  until  re- 
cent years,  there  was  very  little  improvement  of  the 
tools;  during  this  period  the  social  changes  were  the 
results  of  changes  in  the  manner  of  the  organization 
and  use  of  labor,  or  of  military  power,  rather  than  by 
changes  in  the  tools  used  by  the  laborers. 

4.  The  revival  of  inventions  was  the  result  of  the 
self-employment  of  labor  in  northern  Europe  and  in 
America. 

10.  "The  strange  story  of  Frankenstein  was,  I  make  no  doubt,  sug- 
gested to  Mary  Godwin  out  of  the  opinions  which  she  received  from  her 
father.  Frankenstein  had  contrived  to  put  life  into  a  gigantic  being 
which  he  had  constructed,  and  on  which  he  .intended  to  bestow  super- 
human strength,  stature  and  beauty.  His  creation  had  strength  and 
statute  but  was  unutterably  and  shockingly  hideous.  The  maker  of 
the  monster  abandoned  the  horrible  creature,  which  had  to  shift  for 
itself,  and  to  learn  the  arts  of  life  in  solitude,  as  all  fled  with  loath- 
ing from  the  sight  of  it.  It  possessed  infinite  powers  of  endurance, 
infinite  capacity  for  learning,  great  determination  and  cunning,  ir- 
resistible strength.  It  yearned  for  society,  for  sympathy,  and  for 
kindness;  and  meeting  with  none  of  these,  being  rejected  by  all  and 
made  a  loathsome  outcast,  after  it  had  been  called  into  being,  it  be- 
came an  infuriate  fiend,  which  pursued  with  implacable  hate  and  with 
the  most  cruel  wrongs  the  man  who,  being  the  author  of  its  existence, 
was  thereupon  its  most  detested  enemy.  This  remarkable  conception 
was  intended,  it  is  clear,  to  personify  the  misery,  the  loneliness,  the 
endurance,  the  strength,  the  revenge  of  that  anarchic  spirit  which  mis- 
government  engenders,  the  suddenness  with  which  its  passions  seize 
their  opportunities,  and  the  hopelessness  of  the  pursuit  after  it,  when 
it  has  spent  its  fury  for  a  time.  Most  European  governments  have 
been  engaged  in  the  work  of  Frankenstein,  and  have  created  the  mon- 
sters with  whom  they  have  to  deal." — Rogers:  Work  and  Wages,  p. 
554. 


126  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

5.  The  economic  effect  of  machinery  is  the  displace- 
ment of  labor. 

6.  The  social  effect  of  the  introduction  of  machinery, 
together  with  the  opportunities  which  new  countries 
offer  for  self-employment,  even  with  the  old  tools,  has 
been  to  largely  obscure  the  line  of  division  between  the 
owners  and  the  workers  of  the  world.     The  oppor- 
tunity for  some  of  the  workers  to  escape  has  led  to  the 
feeling  that  all  workers  could  escape  from  the  depend- 
ence of  the  wage  workers'  lot,  if  determined  to  do  so. 

7.  The  social  effect  of  the  completion  of  the  equip- 
ment of  industry,  organized  in  world- wide  trusts,  is  to 
close  the  door  of  opportunity  for  all  those  born  to  the 
lot  of  the  working  man,  and  will  compel  the  strong 
minds  of  the  working  class  to  struggle,  along  with  the 
rest,  for  the  emancipation  of  all,  as  the  only  means 
whereby  may  come  the  deliverance  of  any. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  relation  did  the  improvements  in  the  tools  of  primitive 
industry  have  to  the  development  of  the  race  life? 

2.  When  did  the  improvement  in  ancient  tools  cease,  and  why? 

3.  What  form  of  industrial  change  took  the  place  of  changes  in 
the  tools  as  the  cause  of  social  advance,  after  the  improvement  in  the 
tools  had  ceased? 

4.  For  how  long  a  time  did  the  improvement  in  tools  practically 
cease  and  under  what  conditions  was  invention  revived? 

5.  Name  the  main  lines  along  which  inventions  have  been   de- 
veloped. 

6.  How  were  inventions  stimulated  by  the  division  of  labor? 

7.  What  is  the  economic  effect  of  the  introduction  of  machinery? 

8.  Is  displaced  labor  re-employed? 

9.  How  did  the  modern  era  of  development  affect  the  class  lines 
during  its  earlier  advance? 

10.  What    effect    is    the    completer    development    having    on    the 
same  lines? 

11.  Whence  came  the  ability  to  organize  and  develop  great  en- 
terprises ? 

12.  When  those  with  ability  to  organize  and  direct  great  enter- 

E rises  can  no  longer  save  themselves,  each  acting  alone,  from  the  work- 
ig  class,  what  then  will  be  the  way  of  escape? 


CHAPTER  33 

THE  TRUST,  THE  WORLD  MARKET  AND  IMPERIALISM 

151.  Evolution  of  the  Corporation.— The  corpora- 
tion came  into  existence,  not  by  the  base  or  criminal 
actions  of  men.    The  great  machine  made  joint  owner- 
ship inevitable.    This  joint  ownership  was  first  under- 
taken by  partnerships.    But  as  the  result  of  long  years 
of  business  experience  and  development,  the  corpora- 
tion appeared.    It  came  as  the  survival  of  the  form 
of  organization  best  fitted  to  the  necessities  of  effect- 
ive joint  ownership.    But  the  corporation  itself  is  still 
subject  to  the  same  law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest 
and  the  destruction  of  the  unfittest,  and  the  evolution 
of  capitalism  into  new  forms  of  organization  still  con- 
tinues.   And  these  new  forms  are  created  just  as  the 
old  ones  were,  by  economic  necessities— not  as  the  re- 
sult of  the  good  or  the  bad  qualities  of  the  individuals 
involved. 

152.  Victory  of  the  Big  Machines.— The  corpora- 
tion came  as  a  body  large  enough,  by  the  joint  sav- 
ings of  the  individual  earnings  of  many,  to  make  pos- 
sible the  joint  ownership  of  the  great  machines.    The 
use  of  these  machines  at  once  made  necessary  a  larger 

127 


128  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

market.  This  was  at  first  secured  by  a  destructive  com- 
petition of  the  new  and  larger  machines  against  the 
older  and  smaller  ones— and,  in  the  beginning  of  mod- 
ern capitalism,  against  the  simple  tools  of  primitive  in- 
dustry. Because  those  with  great  machines  produced 
with  greater  economy,  they  were  able  to  destroy  com- 
petitors who  were  working  with  inferior  tools.  This 
would  lead  to  the  day  when  no  more  markets  could  be 
obtained  by  destroying  competitive  establishments 
with  inferior  equipments. 

153.  A  Wider  Market.— Every  improvement  in  the 
machinery  meant  a  larger  product,  and,  hence,  a  wider 
market.  In  the  nature  of  the  case,  the  time  must  come 
when  the  best  machinery  would  be  in  many  establish- 
ments and  many  such  establishments  would  be  con- 
tending for  supremacy  in  the  same  market.1  In  such 

1.  "There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  with  a  diminution  in 
the  number  of  competitors  and  an  increase  of  their  size,  competition 
grows  keener  and  keener.  Under  old  business  conditions  custom  held 
considerable  sway;  the  personal  element  played  a  larger  part  alike 
in  determining  quality  of  goods  and  good  faith;  purchasers  did  not 
so  closely  compare  prices;  they  were  not  guided  exclusively  by  fig- 
ures; they  did  not  systematically  beat  down  prices,  nor  did  they  de- 
vote so  large  a  proportion  of  their  time,  thought,  and  money  to  de- 
vices for  taking  away  one  another's  customers.  From  the  new  busi- 
ness this  personal  element  and  these  customary  scruples  have  almost 
entirely  vanished,  and  as  the  net  advantages  of  large  scale  production 
grow,  more  and  more  attention  is  devoted  to  the  direct  work  of  com- 
petition. Hence  we  find  that  it  is  precisely  in  those  trades  which  are 
most  highly  organized,  provided  with  the  most  advanced  machinery, 
and  composed  of  the  largest  units  of  capital,  that  the  fiercest  and 
most  unscrupulous  competition  has  shown  itself.  The  precise  part 
which  machinery,  with  its  incalculable  tendency  to  over-production, 
has  played  in  this  competition  remains  for  later  consideration.  Here 
it  is  enough  to  place  in  evidence  the  acknowledged  fact  that  the 
growing  scale  of  the  business  has  intensified  and  not  diminished  com- 
petition. In  the  great  machine  industries  trade  fluctuations  are  most 
severely  felt;  the  smaller  businesses  are  unable  to  stand  before  the  tide 
of  depression  and  collapse,  or  are  driven  in  self-defense  to  coalesce. 
The  borrowing  of  capital,  the  formation  of  joint  stock  enterprises  and 
every  form  of  co-operation  in  capital  has  proceeded  most  rapidly  in 
the  textile,  metal,  transport,  shipping,  and  machine-making  indus- 
tries, and  in  those  minor  manufactures,  such  as  brewing  and  chemicals, 
which  require  large  quantities  of  expensive  plant.  This  joining  togeth- 
er of  small  capitals  to  make  a  single  large  capital,  this  swallowing  up 
of  small  by  large  businesses,  means  nothing  else  than  the  endeavor  to 


CHAP.  X         THE  TRUST,  THE  WORLD  MARKET,  ETC.  129 

a  case,  the  smallest  advantage  in  the  effectiveness  of 
the  machinery  used,  in  the  skill  with  which  labor  was 
organized  and  employed,  or  in  the  ability  with  which 
the  market  was  sought  for— would  give  the  final  mas- 
tery to  that  corporation  in  whose  favor  the  general  av- 
erage of  advantage  was  found  to  fall.  An  absolute 
equilibrium  in  all  these  particulars  could  not  be  hoped 
for;  but  even  that  could  not  prevent  the  unavoidable 
movement  of  capitalism  towards  concentration. 

154.  Bankruptcy  and  Consolidation. — Two  such  cor- 
porations facing  each  other,  buying  raw  materials  in 
the  same  market,  hiring  labor  in  the  same  market,  us- 
ing machinery  of  the  same  efficiency,  could  not  success- 
fully withstand  and  finally  prevent  the  consolidation 
of  their  enterprises. 

Under  such  conditions,  one  of  three  things  must  hap- 


eseape  the  risks  and  dangers  attending  small-scale  production  in  the 
tide  of  modern  industrial  changes.  But  since  all  are  moving  in  the  same 
direction,  no  one  gains  upon  the  other.  Certain  common  economics  are 
shared  by  the  monster  competitors,  but  more  and  more  energy  must 
be  given  to  the  work  of  competition,  and  the  productive  economies  are 
partly  squanderd  in  the  friction  of  fierce  competition,  and  partly 
pass  over  to  the  body  of  consumers  in  lowered  prices.  Thus  the  en- 
deavor to  secure  safety  and  high  profits  by  the  economies  of  large- 
scale  production  is  rendered  futile  by  the  growing  severity  of  the  com- 
petitive process.  Each  big  firm  finds  itslf  competent  to  undertake  more 
business  than  it  already  possesses,  and  underbids  its  neighbor  until  the 
cutting  of  prices  has  sunk  the  weaker  and  driven  profits  to  a  bare 
subsistence  point  for  the  stronger  competitors. 

"So  long  as  the  increased  size  of  business  brings  with  it  a  net  eco- 
nomic advantage,  the  competition  of  ever  larger  competitors,  whose 
total  power  of  production  is  far  ahead  of  sales  at  remunerative  prices, 
and  who  are  therefore  constrained  to  devote  an  increased  proportion 
of  energy  to  taking  one  another's  trade,  must  intensify  this  cut-throat 
warfare.  The  diminishing  number  of  competitors  in  a  market  does  not 
ease  matters  in  the  least,  for  the  intensity  of  the  strife  reaches  its 
maximum  when  two  competing  businesses  are  fighting  a  life  or  death 
struggle.  As  the  effective  competitors  grow  fewer,  not  only  is  the 
proportion  of  attention  each  devotes  to  the  other  more  continuous  and 
more  highly  concentrated,  but  the  results  of  success  more  intrinsically 
valuable,  for  the  reward,  of  victory  over  the  last  competitor  is  the  at- 
tainment of  monopoly." — Hobson:  Evolution  of  Modern  Capitalism, 
pp.  120-22. 


130 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM 


PART  II 


pen;  and  whichever  happens,  consolidation  must  nec- 
essarily result.2 

First,  if  either  proved  in  the  slightest  degree  to  be 
the  superior  of  the  other,  the  inferior  would  be  driven 
into  bankruptcy  as  the  result  of  a  prolonged  battle  for 
the  control  and  monopoly  of  the  market.  Then  the 
successful  establishment  would  absorb  the  business  of 
both,  and  consolidation  would  result. 

Secondly,  if  they  should  prove  equally  strong  in  the 
strife  for  the  market,  they  could  stay  in  the  fight  until 


2.     "Arranging  in  their  logical  order  the  laws  of  competition  which 
we  have  found,  we  have  the  following  diagram 

3 


I 


1! 


(1)  As  the  waste 
due  to  competition 
increases. 


le  waste  of  com- 
petition increases 
in  proportion  to  its 
intensity. 


(2)     As  the  number  of  competing  units 


(1)  The  intensity  of 
competition  i  n  - 
creases  as  the  num- 
ber of  competing 
units  decreases. 


(2)  The  intensity  of 
competition  i  n  - 
creases  with  the 
amount  of  capital 
required  for  each 
competing  unit, 
ecreases. 


(3)  As   the   amount    of   capital    required   for   each    competing 
unit  increases. 

(4)  As  the  number  of  available  natural  agents  decreases. 

"The  preceding  diagram  sets  plainly  before  us  the  three  great 
salient  causes  from  which  have  grown  the  long  list  of  monopolies 
under  which  our  civilization  labors.  First,  the  supply  of  natural 
agents  of  which  new  competitors  in  any  industry  may  avail  them- 
selves has  been  largely  exhausted,  or  has  been  gathered  up  by  exist- 
ing monopolies  to  render  their  position  more  secure  \  the  world  has 
not  the  natural  resources  to  develop  that  it  had  a  century  ago. 
Second,'  the  concentration  of  all  the  productive  industries,  except 
agriculture,  into  great  establishments,  while  it  has  enormously  les- 
sened the  cost  of  production,  has  so  reduced  the  number  of  compet- 
ing units  that  a  monopoly  is  the  inevitable  final  result.  Last,  the 
enormous  capital  required  for  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of 
new  competing  units  tends  to  fortify  the  monopoly  in  its  position 
and  renders  the  escape  of  the  public  from  its  grasp  practically  im- 
possible. These  terse  statements  contain  exactly  the  kernel  of  po- 
tent truth  for  which  we  are  seeking;  monopolies  of  every  sort  are 
an  inevitable  result  from  certain  conditions  of  modern  civilization. 

"The  vital  importance  of  this  truth  cannot  be  over-estimated. 
For  so  long  as  we  refuse  to  recognize  it,  so  long  as  we  attempt  to 


CHAP.X         THE  TRUST,  THE  WORLD  MARKET,  ETC.  131 

both  were  ruined  and  some  new  company  took  the 
business  of  both— which,  again,  would  be  consolida- 
tion.3 

Thirdly,  if  they  should  refuse  to  contend  and  instead 
combine,  then  there  is  combination  direct  and  outright. 

stop  the  present  evils  of  monopoly  by  trying  to  add  a  feeble  one  to 
the  number  of  competing  units,  or  by  trying  to  legislate  against  spe- 
cial monopolies,  we  are  only  building  a  temporary  dam  to  shut  Out 
a  flood  which  can  only  be  controlled  at  the  fountain  head. 

"The  facts  of  history  testify  to  the  truth  of  this  law.  Monopo- 
lies were  never  so  abundant  as  to-day,  never  so  powerful,  never  so 
threatening;  and  with  unimportant  exceptions  they  have  all  sprung  up 
with  our  modern  industrial  development.  The  last  fifteen  years  have 
seen  a  greater  industrial  advancement  than  did  the  thirty  preceding, 
but  they  have  also  witnessed  a  more  than  proportionate  growth  of 
monopolies.  How  worse  than  foolish,  then,  is  the  short-sightedness 
that  ascribes  monopolies  to  the  personal  wickedness  of  the  men  who 
form  them.  It  is  as  foolish  to  decry  the  wickedness  of  trust  makers 
as  it  is  to  curse  the  schemes  of  labor  monopolists.  Each  is  working 
unconsciously  in  obedience  to  a  natural  law;  and  the  only  reason  that 
almost  every  man  is  not  engaged  in  forming  or  maintaining  a  similar 
monopoly  is  that  he  is  not  placed  in  similar  circumstances.  Away, 
then,  with  the  pessimism  which  declares  that  the  prevalence  of  mo- 
nopolies evidences  the  decay  of  the  nobler  aspirations  of  humanity.  The 
monopolies  of  today  are  a  natural  outgrowth  of  the  laws  of  modern 
competition,  and  they  are  as  actually  the  result  of  the  application  of 
steam,  electricity,  and  machinery  to  the  service  of  men  as  are  our  fac- 
tories and  railways.  Great  evils  though  they  may  have  become,  there 
is  naught  of  evil  omen  in  them  to  make  us  fear  for  the  ultimate  wel- 
fare of  our  liberties. 

"To  the  practical  mind,  however,  the  question  at  once  occurs,  what 
light  have  we  gained  toward  the  proper  method  of  counteracting  this 
evil?  Can  it  be  true  that  the  conditions  of  modern  civilization  neces- 
sitate our  subjection  to  monopolies,  and  that  all  our  vaunted  progress 
in  the  arts  of  peace  only  brings  us  nearer  to  an  inevitable  and  de- 
plorable end,  in  which  a  few  holders  of  the  strongest  monopolies  shall 
ride  rough-shod  over  the  industrial  liberties  of  the  vast  mass  of 
humanity?  Were  this  true,  perhaps  we  had  better  take  a  step  back- 
ward; relinquish  the  factory  for  the  workshop,  the  railway  for  the 
stage  coach.  'Better  it  is  to  be  of  an  humble  spirit  with  the  lowly, 
than  to  divide  the  spoil  with  the  proud.'  But  the  law  we  have  found 
commits  us  to  no  such  fate.  We  cannot,  indeed,  abolish  the  causes 
of  monopolies.  We  cannot  create  new  gifts  of  Nature,  and  it  would 
be  nonsense  to  attempt  to  bring  about  an  increase  in  the  number  of 
competing  units  and  a  decrease  in  the  capitalization  of  each  by  ex- 
changing our  factories  and  works  of  today  for  the  workshops  of  our 
grandfathers." — Baker:  Monopolies  and  the  People,  pp.  158-161. 

3.  "John  D.  Rockefeller,  President  of  the  Standard  Oil  Company, 
in  a  written  statement  submitted  to  the  Industrial  Commission,  Jan- 
uary 10,  1900,  thus  summarized  his  views  concerning  trusts: 

"  *It  is  too  late  to  argue  about  the  advantages  of  industrial  com- 
binations. Their  chief  advantages  are:  1.  Command  of  necessary 


132  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

And  hence,  in  the  third  and  only  other  possible  out- 
come there  is  still  consolidation.  Consolidation  is  as 
directly  the  result  of  the  bankruptcy  of  a  part  or  of  all 
of  the  competitors  as  it  is  the  result  of  the  combina- 
tion of  all.4 

155.  The    Trust— Consolidation    Without    Bank- 
ruptcy.—The  trust  is  such  a  combination  of  corpora- 
tions, created  to  avoid  the  bankruptcy  which  other- 
wise was  inevitable,  for  a  part  or  all  of  the  competitors. 
If  the  corporations  had  refused  to  combinne  they  could 
not  have  prevented  consolidation.    It  would  have  come 
by  the  same  process  of  the  elimination  of  the  more  poor- 
ly equipped  or  the  less  capable  management  and  the 
survival  and  enlargement  of  the  establishments  best 
fitted  to  survive  in  the  midst  of  such  an  economic  war- 
fare. The  trust  simply  does  intelligently  and  with  fore- 
sight and  without  the  bankruptcy  of  the  competing 
parties,  what  competition  would  otherwise  have  accom- 
plished in  spite  of  the  corporations,  but  by  the  familiar 
old  road  of  business  failures  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  capture  of  trade  on  the  other. 

156.  The  Trust  at  Work.— Now,  follow  this  neces- 
sary evolution  of  capitalism  into  the  trust  organiza- 
tion, and  notice  a  few  things  which  necessarily  follow 


capital.  2.  Extension  of  limits  of  business.  3.  Increase  of  the  num- 
ber of  persons  interested  in  the  business.  4.  Economy  in  the  business. 
5.  Improvements  and  economies  which  are  derived  from  knowledge  of 
many  interested  persons  of  wide  experience.  6.  Power  to  give  the 
public  improved  products  at  less  prices  and  still  make  a  profit  for 
stockholders.  7.  Permanent  work  and  good  wages  for  laborers'."— 
Nettleton:  Trust  or  Competition,  p.  138. 

4.  "Indeed,  one  of  the  pressing  questions  is,  whether  the  inde- 
pendent producers  who  have  been  crowded  out  of  the  field  are  unfor- 
tunate sufferers  from  natural  progress,  or  whether  they  are  the  vic- 
tims of  a  wrong  against  which  society  should  protect  them.  More 
centralization  means  a  crushing  out  of  competitors  by  a  process  that, 
however  hard  it  is  for  them,  is  in  a  way  legitimate;  for  it  is  an  in- 
eident  of  the  process  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest." — Professor  Clark 
(Columbia  University):  The  Control  of  the  Trusts,  pp.  19-21. 


CHAP.  X         THE  TRUST,  THE  WORLD  MARKET,  ETC.  133 

the  coming  of  the  trust.  Notice  that  the  trust  does  not 
naturally  arise  until  there  are  more  factories  contend- 
ing for  the  same  market  than  are  needed  to  supply  that 
market.  It  is  because  the  market  cannot  employ  all, 
that  some  must  fail.5  And  hence,  the  fight  for  survi- 
val. When  the  trust  comes,  it  cannot  sell  more  goods 
in  the  same  market.  It  can  only  shut  down  a  part  of 
its  factories  without  making  their  owners  bankrupts. 
Without  the  trust,  the  same  factories  must  have  closed 
anyway,  but  by  making  their  owners  bankrupts.6 

157.  Closing  Factories.— Which  factories  are  sure 
to  close?  Those  where  raw  materials,  transportation 
and  labor  are  found  to  be  most  expensive.  The  fac- 
tories which  are  best  located  and  best  equipped  for 
winning  in  the  competitive  fight  are  the  ones  to  produce 
what  the  market  can  take,  and  earn  dividends,  not 
only  for  their  own  former  stockholders,  but  also  for 
investments  made  in  plants  now  doomed  to  idleness. 
The  trust  will  always  endeavor  to  manufacture  at  that 
place  within  the  territory  controlled  by  the  trust  where 
raw  materials  are  cheapest,  transportation  least  ex- 
pensive and  labor  most  helpless.  The  general  average 
of  advantage  in  these  particulars  will  determine  which 
factories  are  to  close. 

158  Looking  for  Investments.— Again,  so  soon  as 
the  trust  appears  in  any  single  line  of  production,  there 
is  thereafter  not  the  same  demand  for  the  re-invest- 
ment of  its  own  earnings  in  its  own  business.  While  the 
corporations  were  competing  with  each  other,  each  cor- 

5.  "No  doubt  there  are  occasions  on  which  a  trade  cannot  con- 
tinue to  produce  at  its  full  strength  without  forcing  the  sale  of  its 
wares  on  an  inelastic  market   disastrous  to  itself." — Marshall:    Prin- 
ciples of  Economics,  p.  411. 

6.  "With  the  exception  of  the  Standard  Oil  trust,  and  perhaps 
one  or  two  others  that  rose  somewhat  earlier,  it  may  be  fairly  said, 
I    think,    that    not    merely    competition,    but    competition    that    was 
proving  ruinous  to  many  establishments,  was  the  cause  of  combina- 
tions."— Jenks:  Economic  Journal,  Vol.  II.,  p.  73. 


134  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

poration  was  obliged  to  re-invest  its  earnings  in  enlarg- 
ing its  own  business  equipment  and  in  extending,  by 
competitive  advertising  and  competing  salesmen,  the 
volume  of  its  business.  For  only  the  corporation  which 
could  do  things  on  the  largest  scale  could  produce  most 
cheaply  and  so  be  best  able  to  survive. 

159.  Economies  of  the  Trust.— But  as  soon  as  the 
trust  is  established,  the  cost  of  competing  salesmen  and 
competing  advertising,  together  with  the  wages,  or 
salaries,  of  great  numbers  of  workers  is  saved  to  the 
combination;  and,  besides,  instead  of  building  more 
shops,  a  great  saving  is  made  by  closing  a  portion  of 
those  already  built.  As  a  result,  the  earnings  are  larger 
and,  the  demand  for  reinvestment  in  their  own  business 
ceasing,  large  sums  are  set  at  liberty  to  invest  in  other 
lines  of  business.    But  the  very  nature  of  machine  pro- 
duction so  relates  many  lines  of  manufacturing  that 
the  finished  product  of  one  manufacturer  is  the  raw 
material  of  another.    The  trust  having  its  earnings  free 
for  re-investment,  follows  its  finished  products  into  the 
related  factories  and  buys  or  builds  related  plants,  one 
after  another,  until  it  reaches  the  consumer  direct.    It 
follows  its  raw  materials  back  through  the  preceding 
factories  and  finally  to  the  natural  resources  direct. 

The  tanners  reach  forward  into  the  shoe  factory  and 
to  the  harness  shop,  and  backward  to  the  raw  hides 
until  the  leather  trust  controls  the  whole  industry,  from 
the  cattle  ranch  to  the  purchaser,  who  consumes  the 
goods.  And  then  its  earnings,  seeking  re-investment, 
must  enter  unrelated  lines  of  business. 

160.  Monopoly  and  the  Trust.— Finally,  whenever  a 
trust  is  established  to  control  any  particular  market, 
others  not  before  selling  in  that  market,  attracted  by 
the  better  conditions  for  trade,  will  become  competitors 
with  the  trust,  with  the  result  that  the  same  old  con- 
flict for  control  is  again  renewed,  which  may  end  in  the 


CHAP.  X         THE  TRUST,  THE  WORLD  MARKET,  ETC.  135 

bankruptcy  of  either  or  both  of  the  competitors  or  in 
a  further  combination;  but,  in  any  case,  as  shown  above, 
in  a  further  consolidation  of  the  business.  With  each 
new  enlargement,  new  competitors  will  arise,  until  all 
competitors  selling  in  that  market  have  either  combined 
with  or  been  destroyed  by  this  ever-growing  concentra- 
tion of  business.  Therefore,  when  the  trust  has  once 
appeared  in  any  line  of  trade,  there  is  thereafter  no 
logical  stopping  place  for  its  growth  until  it  has  de- 
stroyed, or  compelled  to  combine  with  itself,  all  com- 
petitors selling  in  the  same  market.7 

161.  The  International  Trust.— But  the  trust  is  be- 
coming international.  It  sells  in  the  world  market.8 
Therefore,  there  is  no  logical  stopping  place  for  the 
growth  of  the  trust  until  it  has  destroyed,  or  forced  to 
combine  with  itself,  all  competitors  selling  in  the 
world's  market.9  And  hence,  from  all  the  foregoing,  it 
is  clearly  seen  that,  trust  or  no  trust,  consolidation 
which  effects  the  same  economic  consequences  as  the 
trust  is  the  necessary  result  of  prolonged  and  de- 
termined competition  for  control  of  the  same  market, 
and  that  the  trust,  once  in  existence,  must  continue  its 
evolution  and  necessary  growth  until  one  trust  shall 
control  all  lines  of  business  on  all  the  earth,  and  shall 
produce  for  that  whole  world,  at  that  place  on  all  the 
earth  where  materials  are  cheapest,  access  to  the  sea 
most  direct  and  labor  most  helpless. 

7.  See  close  of  Note  1  above. 

8.  "It  was  Marx  who  first  clearly  pointed  out  the  nature  of  the 
domestic   system   and  its  transformation  into   the   factory   system  of 
our  age,  with  the  attendant  change  from  the  local  to  the  national 
market,  and  from  this  in  turn  to  the  world  market." — Seligman:  The 
Economic  Interpretation  of  History,  p.  69. 

9.  "Nevertheless,   though   these   great   economic   movements   were 
retarded,  they  could  not  be  wholly  arrested.     Capitalism  has  gradually 
overcome  the  medieval  obstacles ;   it  has  swept  away  local  exclusive- 
ness,  and  has  been  the  means  of  developing  large  economic  areas.     A 
revolution  has  taken  place  in  business  practice,  and  the  breaking  down 
of  commercial  restrictions  is  a  change  which  has  affected  the  traders 
in  all  lands." — Cunningham:    The  Cambridge  Modern  History,p.  531. 


136  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

162.  The  World  Market.— At  the  beginning  of  this 
century,  there  were  many  different  nations.    To  a  large 
degree,  each  nation  had  its  own  government,  its  own 
language,  its  own  peculiar  institutions,  and  especially 
its  own  industrial  and  commercial  life.    But  as  each 
nation  has  developed  its  own  industries,  it  has  been 
compelled  to  look  for  foreign  markets  in  order  to  dis- 
pose of  the  goods  which  the  workers  make,  which  the 
masters  cannot  use,  and  which  the  wages  paid  under 
capitalism  are  not  enough  to  enable  the  workers  to  buy; 
and  hence,  the  development  of  the  century  has  been  in 
the  direction  of  a  world  market.10    As  each  nation  has 
extended  its  market,  it  has  multiplied  its  battle-ships, 
built  its  coaling  stations,  and  protected  its  own  mer- 
chantmen as  they  have  bought  or  sold  in  all  lands.    In- 
dustry and  commerce  have  become  a  matter  of  interna- 
tional concern.11 

163.  The  Money  Changer.— In  connection  with  in- 
dustry and  commerce  in  international  trade,  the  ex- 
change of  international  credits  and  the  payment  of  bal- 
ances in  specified  commodities,  as  gold  or  silver  bullion, 

10.  "The  phase  of   civilization  through   which   mankind   is  now 
passing  opened  in  1870.     For  many  years  previous  to  the  German  vic- 
tory (Franco-Prussian  War,  1870)  a  quickening  of  competition,  caused 
by  a  steady  acceleration  of  movement,  had  been  undermining  the  equi- 
librium reached  at  the  battle  of  Waterloo    (1815).  Every- 
where society  tends  to  become  organized  in  greater  arid  denser  masses, 
the  more  vigorous  and  economical  mass  destroying  the  less  active  and 
more  wasteful." — Adams:   Economic  Supremacy,  p.  26. 

11.  "The  right  of  association  must  be  free;  the  magnitude  of  as- 
sociation must  correspond  with  the  magnitude  of  the  business  to  be 
done;   business  can  no  longer  be  localized;   it  cannot  be  confined  by 
state  lines;  when  the  problem  is  to  open  and  keep  open  the  markets 
of  the  world,  it  is  sheer  madness  to  attempt  to  restrict  the  business  as 
of  that  of  a  local  manufacturer.     *     *     *     The  law  is  possibly  our 
best  guide  on  this  subject.     It  has  progressed  as  experience  and  the 
necessities  of  business  required,  from  the  idea  that  all  combinations 
were  wrong  to  the  idea  that  all  persons  should  be  left  free  to  combine 
for  all  legitimate  purposes.     *  In  reviewing  the  history  of  the 
Standard  combination,  I  expect  to  demonstrate  that  the  necessities'  of 
the  business  demanded  association  on  a  large  scale." — S.  C.  J.  Dodd. 
Solicitor  of  the  Standard  Oil  Trust.     Quoted  by  Nettleton;  Trusts  or 
Competition?  p.  195. 


CHAP.  X          THE  TRUST,  THE  WORLD  MARKET,  ETC  137 

have  made  the  international  money-changer  a  factor 
of  the  first  importance.  His  profits  depend  on  the  dis- 
counts, the  exchanges  and  the  gathering  in  of  forfeited 
collaterals  on  loans  made  by  him. 

In  any  particular  neighborhood  the  money-changer, 
by  withholding  credit,  may  bring  ruin  to  the  business 
of  one  neighbor,  while  by  extending  credit  he  may  de- 
velop the  business  of  another.  He  may  lend  for  the 
very  purpose  of  enlarging  business  and  getting  posses- 
sion of  collaterals  on  easy  terms  for  the  borrower.  He 
may  withdraw  his  loans  for  the  very  purpose  of  con- 
verting to  his  own  use  the  collaterals  which  the  same 
borrower  has  pledged  for  his  "  accommodations. ' ' 

But  trade  has  become  international,  and  the  interna- 
tional money-changer  has  the  same  grip  on  the  nations 
of  the  earth  that  the  old-time  money-lord  had  for  a  long 
time  upon  his  neighbors.  In  time  of  peace,  the  interna- 
tional money-changer  can  "send  home  securities" 
that  is,  refuse  credit  to  one  country  to  its  hurt,  and  ex- 
tend credit  to  another  country  in  a  manner— for  a  time, 
at  least— to  greatly  enlarge  its  business.  He  may  thus 
work  one  country  against  another  by  turns,  and  all 
the  time  be  the  master  of  both.  In  time  of  war,  he  may 
recall  old  loans;  grant  or  withhold  new  loans;  dictate 
alliances,  equip  armies,  and  so  control  the  conditions 
on  which  victory  depends. 

164.  The  New  World  Power.— Here,  then,  are  four 
things  new  and  startling  in  their  significance,  though 
all  are  but  the  culmination  of  a  century  of  development. 
In  fact,  they  are  the  outgrowth  of  all  the  centuries. 
They  are :  first,  the  international  trust ;  second,  the  fed- 
eration of  all  trusts;  third,  the  presence  of  all  flags  on 
all  seas;  fourth,  a  single  power  both  in  the  trusts  and 
behind  the  flags  in  all  lands  and  on  all  seas. 

165.  The  Monopoly  of  the  Earth.— The  logical  cul- 
mination will  be  many  factories,  but  only  one  corpora- 


138  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

tion  of  manufacturers ;  many  flags,  but  only  one  govern- 
ment; in  fact,  the  speedy  coming  to  fullness  of  power  of 
a  single  private  syndicate  which  shall  own  and  govern 
all;  shall  control  the  industry,  commerce,  courts  and 
armies  of  all  the  earth.12  And  this  is  not  to  be  the 
"Parliament  of  man,  the  federation  of  the  world."  It  is 
to  be  the  parliament  of  dollars,  the  federation  of  the 
despoilers  of  the  earth. 

166.  The  Surviving  Factory.— When  all  the  cor- 
porations engaged  in  any  line  of  business  combine  into 
a  trust  to  conduct  all  the  business  in  any  country,  only 
those  factories  in  all  that  country  are  continued  in  op- 
eration where  materials  are  cheapest,  transportation 
most  advantageous  and  labor  most  helpless.  When- 
ever the  international  trust  comes  into  the  fullness  of 
its  power,  only  those  factories  on  all  the  earth  will  con- 
tinue in  operation  where  materials  are  cheapest,  trans- 
portation most  advantageous,  and  labor  most  helpless. 
As  in  the  case  of  a  national  trust,  if  the  workers  in  th$ 
vicinity  of  a  closed  factory  will  consent  to  go  on  with 
the  work  on  the  terms  at  which  the  most  helpless  work- 
ers in  any  other  portion  of  the  country  will  consent  to 
be  employed,  then,  the  chances  for  materials  and  trans- 
portation being  equal,  the  work  may  go  on  in  that  fac- 
tory. So,  also,  in  the  case  of  the  international  trust, 
if  the  workers  in  any  country  where  the  standard  of 
living  and  the  wages  of  workers  are  high,  if  they  too 
will  consent  to  the  terms  under  which  the  most  help- 
less workers  in  all  the  earth  consent  to  be  employed, 
the  chances  for  materials  and  transportation  being 
equal,  the  work  may  go  on  in  that  country.  Otherwise, 
the  production  of  any  particular  article  so  involved 
will  be  transferred,  and  its  production  will  remain 

12.  "I  confess  that  I  feel  humiliated  at  the  truth,  which  cannot 
be  disguised,  that  though  we  live  under  the  form  of  a  Republic  (the 
United  States),  we  are,  in  fact,  under  the  rule  of  a  single  man."— 
Judge  Story,  quoted  in  "Annals  of  Toil,"  p.  199. 


CHAP.  X          THE  TRUST,  THE  WORLD  MARKET,  ETC  139 

transferred,  to  that  place  on  all  the  earth  where  ma- 
terials are  cheapest,  the  open  sea  within  easy  reach,  and 
the  toilers  most  helpless. 

167.  International  Strikes  and  Trusts.— Under  such 
an  organization,  a  successful  strike  in  any  single  coun- 
try would  be  impossible.  The  workers  in  the  United 
States  might  refuse  to  work;  but  the  shops  in  England 
Italy  and  China  could  take  the  work,  and  on  the  other 
side  of  the  earth,  beyond  the  reach  of  their  industry  to 
help,  or  of  their  rage  to  interfere;  under  the  pro- 
tection of  all  the  armies  of  the  earth;  supported  by  all 
the  battle-ships  of  all  the  seas,  the  wheels  will  turn,  and 
what  the  market  can  take,  the  international  trust  can 
produce.  With  the  international  trust  once  in  control 
of  the  production  of  any  given  article,  a  strike  can 
never  again  win  in  any  shop  producing  that  article  un- 
til the  helpless  workers  of  China,  India,  and  of  all 
"the  isles  of  the  sea'7  shall  have  been  made  good  and 
reliable  members  of  the  unions  involved.  Nor  could  a 
strike  in  any  country  succeed,  even  then,  unless  an  in- 
ternational organization  of  the  unions  could  be  made 
more  effiective  in  such  a  world  encounter,  without  any 
armies  on  the  land  and  without  any  battle-ships  at  sea, 
than  the  international  trust  could  be  made  with  all  the 
armies  of  all  lands  and  all  the  battle-ships  of  all  the 
seas  at  its  command.  If  these  helpless  workers  are  in- 
capable of  such  an  effective  membership  in  the  unions, 
or  if  such  an  international  organization  of  the  unions 
would  be  helpless,  because  defenseless,  then,  under  the 
international  trust,  the  strike  is  at  an  end  in  all  such 
shops.  Heretofore,  the  factory  has  imported  the  help- 
less worker  to  compete  with  the  trades  unionist  on  his 
own  ground  and  at  the  doors  of  the  shop  where  the 
unionist  was  himself  employed.  Under  the  interna- 
tional trust,  the  factory  itself  may  be  exported  instead. 
If  the  Chinese  coolie  is  forbidden  access  to  this  coun- 


140  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

try,  the  international  trust— protected  by  the  interna- 
tional battle-ship—will  take  the  factory  to  the  Chinese 
coolie's  own  country.13 

168.  The  Tariff,  the  Trust  and  the  Shanghai  Fac- 
tory.—For  a  hundred  years  and  more,  American  work- 
ers have  largely  supported  a  protective  tariff  in  order 
not  to  be  brought  into  competition  with  the  pauper  la- 
bor of  other  countries.  Whatever  may  have  been  true 
of  the  past,  under  the  international  trust  any  possible 
advantage  from  the  tariff  to  the  American  worker  is 
at  an  end.  It  has  been  argued  that  freedom  of  trade 
would  make  necessary  the  payment  in  this  country  of 
the  wages  of  the  pauper  labor  of  other  countries,  and 
to  avoid  this  the  products  of  the  laborers  of  other  coun- 
tries, who  worked  in  other  countries,  have  been  for- 
bidden the  American  market  except  such  payment  be 
made  as  to  balance  the  difference  in  wages.  Whatever 
may  have  been  true  in  the  past,  under  the  international 
trust  the  sum  of  the  tariff  on  any  given  article  will  be 
promptly  added  to  its  price,  and  as  the  trust  controls 
all  the  factories  in  that  line  in  this  country,  American 
manufacturers  will  not  compete  to  bring  down  the  price 
at  home.  The  tariff  in  such  a  case  would  add  to  the 
cost  of  living,  but  have  no  power  to  raise  wages.  This 
has  been  admitted,  and  the  suggestion  has  been  offered 
that  whenever  any  article  is  made  the  subject  of  a  trust 
organization  it  be  put  on  the  free  list,  and  so  open 
to  the  competition  of  the  world.  But  under  the  in- 
ternational trust  the  same  organization  controls  on 

13.  "The  bourgeoisie,  by  the  rapid  improvement  of  all  instru- 
ments of  production,  by  the  immensely  facilitated  means  of  commu- 
nication, draw  all,  even  the  most  barbarian,  nations  into  civilization. 
The  cheap  prices  of  its  commodities  are  the  heavy  artillery  with  which 
it  batters  down  all  Chinese  walls,  with  which  it  forces  the  barbarians 
to  capitulate.  It  compels  all  nations,  on  pain  of  extinction,  to  adopt 
the  bourgeois  mode  of  production;  it  compels  them  to  introduce 
what  it  calls  civilization  into  their  midst,  i.  e.,  to  become  bourgeois 
themselves.  In  a  word,  it  creates  a  world  after  its  own  immage." — 
Marx  and  Engels:  Communist  Manifesto,  p.  19. 


CHAP.  X         THE  TRUST,  THE  WORLD  MARKET,  ETC.  141 

both  sides  of  the  national  boundary  line,  and  it  will 
be  a  matter  of  utter  indifference  to  the  trust  whether 
you  buy  from  its  factory  in  Chicago,  in  Manchester 
or  in  Shanghai.  The  trust  will  fix  its  price  for  the 
trade  of  all  countries  and  it  will  continue  to  be  done 
by  the  arbitrary  act  of  the  trust  which  alone  can  fur- 
nish the  goods.  If  the  workers  in  this  country  will 
work  on  the  basis  of  the  Chinese  coolies,  then  the 
people  of  this  country  may,  if  they  wish,  buy  from  a 
factory  in  this  country.  If  the  workers  of  this  country 
refuse  to  join  the  Chinese  coolies,  they  may  join  the 
American  tramps  instead,  and  the  goods  will  come  from 
Shanghai  just  the  same. 

169.  No  Possible  Competitor.— If  it  be  said  that  ex- 
orbitant prices  will  mean  large  profits,  and  that  new 
capital  will  be  employed  outside  the  international  com- 
bination of  all  the  trusts  of  all  the  countries,  the  an- 
swer is,  that  this  international  combination  will  con- 
trol the  money  of  the  earth,  not  to  mention  transporta- 
tion, on  both  land  and  sea,  and  all  the  other  related 
lines  of  industry  on  which  any  new  competing  company 
must  rely.     This  international  combination  will  con- 
trol all  the  shops  in  the  trust ;  it  will  be  able  to  destroy 
all  shops  not  in  the  trust.    It  is  self-evident  that  no  new 
company,  borrowing  money  from  the  trust  or  buying 
materials  from  the  trust  or  shipping  over  lines  owned 
by  the  trust,  can  live  as  a  competitor  with  the  trust. 

170.  Cornered  at  Last.— Notice,  then,  that  with  the 
completion  of  this  combination  the  strike  will  be  in- 
effective, the  tariff  without  force,  and  a  new  competitor 
impossible;  and  notice  further  that  within  the  limits 
of  what  is  possible,  under  capitalism,  no  other  method 
of  escape  from  the  monopoly  and  tyranny  of  trade  is 
even  thinkable,  to  say  nothing  of  its  effectiveness. 

171.  Imperialism.— And  now  as  to  the  matter  of 
imperialism  and  expansion,  it  is  a  matter  of  no  con- 


142  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

cern  to  the  helpless  workers  anywhere  how  far  our  flag 
shall  be  carried  if  its  presence  shall  mean  what  every 
other  battle  flag  on  earth  now  means,  and  that  is  the 
extension  of  this  trust-ruled  industrial  and  commercial 
world  life. 

172.  Choosing  a  Flag  to  Starve  Under.— What  dif- 
ference does  it  make  to  a  toiler  what  flag  he  starves  un- 
der or  what  flag  it  is  which  supports  those  international 
policies  which  make  certain  the  universal  and  helpless 
enslavement  of  the  human  race?     If  our  flag  goes 
abroad  on  such  an  errand,  it  means  no  harm  to  the 
worker  which  cannot  come  to  him  under  some  other 
flag,  if  our  flag  does  not  go.    To  keep  our  flag  at  home 
lest  it  should  do  the  wrong,  does  not  prevent  the  doing 
of  the  wrong;  to  send  it  abroad  consenting  to  the  wrong 
as  the  only  means  by  which  it  may  be  unfurled  in  new 
and  distant  lands,  is  to  send  it  as  a  defender  of  this  in- 
ternational commercialism,  which  is  only  a  system- 
atized form  of  international  piracy,  which  is  nothing 
else  than  the  giving  to  the  international  capitalist  the 
power  of  our  flag  to  aid  him  in  doing  in  other  lands 
exactly  the  same  thing  which  capitalism  is  doing  at 
home. 

173.  Imperialism,  Militarism,  Expansion,  Capital- 
ism.—The  imperialism  of  any  or  all  the  governments  of 
the  earth  is  a  matter  of  no  concern  to  the  workers  as 
long  as  the  imperialism  of  international  trade,  mastered 
by  an  international  trust,  controlling  all  the  industries 
of  the  earth,  shall  remain  unchallenged.    It  is  true  that 
imperialism  abroad  does  mean  militarism  at  home.  But 
it  is  also  true  that  capitalism  at  home  makes  imperial- 
ism abroad  absolutely  inevitable.     The  international 
organization  of  industry  and  commerce  which  is  so  rap- 
idly culminating  in  the  one  international  trust,  includes 
the  industry  and  commerce  of  America.    The  market 
for  American  products  is  international.      The  battle- 


CHAP.  X         THE  TRUST,  THE  WORLD  MARKET,  ETC.  143 

ship  must  go  wherever  the  merchantman  has  gone. 
As  long  as  capitalism,  producing  for  an  international 
market,  rules  American  industry,  the  battle-ship 
must  go. 

Expansion  is  simply  capitalism  looking  for  a  for- 
eign market.14  Imperialism  is  simply  the  power  of  the 
nation  used  to  extend  and  protect  that  market. 

174.  Summary.— 1.  The  use  of  the  great  machines 
made  necessary  ownership  by  the  joint  savings  of 
many,  employment  of  the  joint  labor  of  many  and  the 
great  extension  of  the  market,  hence  the  coming  of  the 
manufacturing  corporations. 

2.  Corporations  competing  for  the    same    market 
were  obliged  to  combine  to  avoid  mutual  destruction. 
It  resulted  in  the  combination  of  some  companies  and 
the  ultimate  destruction  of  all  others  selling  the  same 
goods  in  the  same  market,— this  is  the  trust. 

3.  The  extension  of  trade  has  created  a  world  mar- 
ket.   The  organization  of  the  trust,  once  undertaken, 
had  to  become  as  extensive  as  the  market  in  which  it 
sought  to  control  the  trade,— hence  the  international 
trust. 

4.  Every  industry  is  intimately    connected  with 
many  other  industries  which  furnish  the  materials  or 
the  tools  or  the  transportation  involved  in  its  own  busi- 
ness.    To  control  one  line  of  production  sometimes 
makes  possible,  and  sometimes  necessary,  the  control 
of  other  lines  of  trade,— hence  the  federation  of  the 
trusts. 

5.  The  perfect  equipment  and  large  earnings  of  the 
trust  make  impossible  the  re-investment  of  its  profits 
in  the  further  development  of  its  own  business,  because 

14.  "All  the  energetic  races  have  been  plunged  into  a  contest  for 
the  possession  of  the  only  markets  left  open  capable  of  absorbing  surplus 
manufactures,  since  all  are  forced  to  encourage  exports  to  maintain 
themselves." — Adams:  Economic  Supremacy,  p.  29. 


144  7HE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  It 

of  the  limitations  of  the  market,  and  so  compel  the  re- 
investment of  the  earnings  of  the  trust  in  other  lines  of 
business,  and  thus  bring  new  lines  of  business  under  the 
same  control,  and  hence,  again,  the  federation  of  the 
trusts. 

6.  The  exigencies  of  foreign  relations  control  the 
domestic  policies  of  all  countries.  International  trade 
controls  all  foreign  relations.  The  international  trust 
is  rapidly  becoming  the  master  of  all  international 
trade.  It  is  becoming  the  political  as  well  as  the  indus- 
trial despot  of  the  world. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  made  the  creation  of  the  manufacturing  corporations 
necessary  ? 

2.  Why  was  the  creation  of  the  trust  necessary?    Can  consolida- 
tion be  prevented? 

3.  Why  must  the  trust  become  a  world  trust? 

4.  Why  has  the  federation  of  trusts  taken  place? 

5.  Are   there   any   forces  which   can   prevent   the  culmination  of 
business  organization  in  a  single  world  trust? 

6.  Name  some  of  the  important  things  which  such  a  world  power, 
or  single  international  trust,  would  be  sure  to  control. 

7.  How  would  this  affect  the  interests  of  those  not  in  the  trusts? 

8.  Would  a  successful  strike  then  be  possible?    Why? 

9.  Could  any  action  regarding  the  tariff  in  any  way  affect  the 
interests  of  an  international  trust?     Why? 

10.  Would  the  organization  of  new  competing  companies  be  pos- 
sible after  the  completion  of  the  one  international  trust?       Why? 

11.  What   is  the   cause   at   home  of  the   policy   of   imperialism 
abroad  ? 

• 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  COLLAPSE  OF  CAPITALISM 

175.  The  Culmination.— Capitalism  has  a  world- 
wide existence.    All  other  forms  of  the  organization  of 
industry  and  commerce  have  been  crowded  out  of  ex- 
istence.   World-wide  consolidation  cannot  be  prevent- 
ed.   This  culmination  is  inevitable.    It  is  the  purpose 
of  this  chapter  to  show  that  the  final  collapse  of  cap- 
italism is  as  inevitable  as  is  continued  growth  and  final 
consolidation  under  capitalism. 

176.  Surplus    Products.— Capitalism,    under    ma- 
chine production,  produces  more  goods  than  the  cap- 
italists can  dispose  of  among  themselves  and  their  em- 
ployes.   The  capitalists  take  all  the  goods  from  the 
market  which  they  can  use  or  are  willing  to  waste.   The 
workers  take  all  the  goods  from  the  market  which  their 
wages  will  pay  for. 

It  was  recently  stated,  in  the  United  States  Senate, 
by  Senator  Hanna,  that  American  production  will  have 
to  be  lessened  at  least  one-third,  or  the  foreign  market 
must  be  held  for  American  goods.  This  means  that 
American  workers  are  producing  very  largely  in  ex- 
cess of  what  the  American  workers  are  able  to  buy, 

145 


146  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM.  PART  II 

over  and  above  all  that  their  employers  can  use  or  are 
willing  to  waste.1 

If  the  workers  of  this  country  are  doing  this,  it  is 
also  true  that  the  workers  of  all  countries  are  doing  the 
same.  If  the  accuracy  of  Senator  Hanna's  figures  be 
denied,  it  will  not  be  denied  that  the  workers  of  all 
countries  are  all  the  time  producing  largely  in  excess 
of  all  that  the  workers  of  all  the  countries  are  able 
to  buy,  over  and  above  all  that  their  employers  can 
either  use  or  waste. 

177.  The  Foreign  Market.—  By  means  of  the  foreign 
market  the  attempt  is  made  to  dispose  of  this  surplus, 
by  the  employers  of  different  countries  trying  to  sell 
to  each  other  this  surplus,  which  the  workers  could 
use,  but  cannot  buy,  and  which  the  employers  claim, 
but  cannot  use.  To  whatever  extent  the  foreign  market 
relieves  the  overstocked  market  of  one  country,  it  must 
at  the  same  time  increase  the  overstock  or  stop  the 
industry  of  some  other  country  which  was  before  pro- 
ducing the  same  goods  for  the  same  market.  If  the 
great  manufacturing  countries  are  all  of  them  pro- 
ducing thirty  per  cent  more  than  the  workers  can  buy 
with  their  wages,2  and  over  and  above  what  their  em- 
ployers can  use  or  waste,  this  surplus  cannot  be  long 
disposed  of  by  international  exchange,  for  however 
much  this  international  exchange  of  goods,  by  ex- 
changing the  staple  articles  of  one  country  for  the  lux- 
uries of  other  countries,  may  add  to  what  the  capitalists 
may  be  willing  to  waste,  it  can  in  no  way  add  to  the  pur- 
chasing power  of  the  workers. 


I  «  #  «  *  The  upghot  of  the  whole  matter,  therefore,  is  that 
America  has  been  irresistibly  impelled  to  produce  a  large  industrial 
surplus  —  a  surplus,  should  no  change  occur,  which  will  be  larger  in 
a  few  years  than  anything  ever  before  known.  Upon  the  existence 
of  this  surplus  hinges  the  future,  for  the  United  States  must  provide 
sure  and  adequate  outlets  for  her  products,  or  be  in  danger  of  gluts 
more  dangerous  to  her  society  than  many  panics  such  as  1873  and 
1893."  —  Adams:  American  Economic  Supremacy,  p.  '32. 

2.     "But  the   capacity   for   extension,   extensive   and   intensive,   of 


CHAP.  XI  THE  COLLAPSE  OF  CAPITALISM  147 

178.  Losing  the  Market.— If  there  are  increased 
sales  for  any  one  country,  it  is  because  it  has  captured 
the  trade  and  closed  the  shops  of  some  other  country.3 
And  so  the  struggle  for  the  foreign  market,  wherever 

the  markets  is  primarily  governed  by  quite  different  laws,  that  work 
much  less  energetically.  The  extension  of  the  markets  cannot  keep 
pace  with  the  extension  of  production.  The  collision  becomes  inevitable, 
and  as  this  cannot  produce  any  real  solution  so  long  as  it  does  not 
break  in  pieces  the  capitalist  mode  of  production  the  collisions  become 
periodic." — Engels:  Socialism  Utopian  and  Scientific,  pp.  63-64. 

"And  how  does  the  bourgeoisie  get  over  these  crises?  On  the 
one  hand  by  enforced  destrucion  of  a  mass  of  productive  forces;  on 
the  other,  by  the  conquest  of  new  markets,  and  by  the  more  thorough 
exploitation  of  the  old  ones.  That  is  to  say,  by  paving  the  way  for 
more  extensive  and  more  destructive  crises,  and  by  diminishing  the 
means  whereby  crises  are  prevented." — Marx  and  Engles:  Communist 
Manifesto,  pp.  21-22. 

3.  "  'A  pound  of  home  trade,'  it  has  been  said,  'is  more  significant 
to  manufacturing  industry  than  thirty  shillings  or  two  pounds  of 
foreign.'  The  comparison  may  not  be  exact,  but  it  is  on  the  right 
lines.  Now,  one  of  the  most  important  branches  of  our  home  trade 
must  be  the  supplying  of  agriculturists  with  manufactures  in  exchange 
for  food.  But  when  the  purchasing  power  of  this  class  of  the  com- 
munity has  sunk  as  much  as  £43,000,000  (more  than  $206,000,000)  per 
annum,  it  is  obvious  that  such  a  loss  of  custom  must  seriously  affect 
manufactures.  Again,  no  small  portion  of  our  home  market  must 
consist  in  the  purchases  made  by  the  working  classes,  yet  it  does  not 
seem  to  occur  to  capitalist  manufacturers  that  if  they  pay  a  large 
proportion  of  the  industrial  classes  the  lowest  possible  wages,  and  get 
them  to  work  the  longest  possible  hours  while  thus  obtaining  an  ever- 
increasing  production  of  goods,  the  question  must  sooner  or  later  be 
answered:  Who  is  going  to  consume  the  goods  thus  produced? 

"The  answer,  as  far  as  the  capitalist  is  concerned,  seems  to  be — 
foreign  customers  in  new  markets.  English  manufacturers  and  cap- 
italists have  consistently  supported  that  policy  which  seemed  likely 
to  open  up  these  new  markets  for  their  goods.  For  a  considerable 
time,  as  we  saw,  they  occupied  themselves  very  wisely  in  obtaining 
cheap  raw  material  by  passing  enactments  actuated  by  Free-Trade 
principles,  and  removing  protective  restrictions.  Cheap  raw  material 
having  thus  been  gained,  and  machinery  having  now  been  developed 
to  such  an  extent  as  to  increase  production  quite  incalculably,  Eng- 
land sends  her  textile  and  other  products  all  over  the  world.  She 
seems  to  find  it  necessary  to  discover  fresh  markets  every  ganeration 
or  so,  in  order  that  this  vast  output  of  commodities  may  be  sold.  The 
merchant  and  manufacturing  classes  have  supported  and  still  support 
this  policy,  from  a  desire,  apparently,  rather  to  find  new  customers 
than  to  keep  the  old;  and  largely  for  the  sake  of  British  trade,  wars 
have  been  made  on  China,  Egypt,  and  Burmah,  while  at  the  present 
moment  England  is  scrambling  with  Germany,  Portugal,  and  other 
powers  for  the  new  markets  of  Africa.  Today,  indeed,  the  industrial 
history  of  our  country  seems  to  have  reached  a  point  when  production 
under  a  purely  mercantile  system  is  over-reaching  itself.  It  must  go 
on  and  on  without  ceasing,  finding  or  fighting  for  an  outlet  for  the 


148  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

trade  shall  finally  go,  means  destruction  of  industry 
for  the  losers  in  the  conflict,  and  ultimate  monopoly 
and  world-mastery  for  the  industrial  victors. 

179.  Purchasing  Power.— But  this  is  not  all.  Each 
such  victory  helps  to  destroy  the  purchasing  power  in 
the  world-market  of  those  countries  whose  shops  are 
closed,  and  hence  makes  smaller,  at  the  same  time  it 
monopolizes,  this  market  for  the  victors.  Whenever 
the  world-trust  shall  come  into  complete  control  of  the 
world-market  and  continues  to  produce  more  than  its 
workers  can  buy,  where,  then,  will  it  dispose  of  this 
surplus  which  the  capitalist  claims,  but  cannot  use,  and 
which  the  worker  has  produced  and  needs,  but  cannot 
buy?  If  the  remedy  shall  be  to  produce  less,  then  more 
workers  are  displaced  and  there  will  be  still  fewer  to 
buy,  and  hence,  a  larger  surplus  than  ever.4  Then  cap- 
wealth  produced,  lest  the  whole  gigantic  system  of  international  com- 
merce should  break  down  by  the  mere  weight  of  its  own  immensity. 
Meanwhile  English  manufacturers  are  complaining  of  foreign  competi- 
tion in  plaintive  tones,  a  complaint  which  merely  means  that  whereas 
they  thought  some  years  ago  that  they  had  a  complete  monopoly  in 
supplying  the  requirements  of  the  world,  they  are  now  perceiving  that 
they  have  not  a  monopoly  at  all,  but  only  a  good  start,  while  other 
nations  are  already  catching  them  up  in  the  modern  race  for  wealth." — 
Gibbins:  Industry  in  England,  pp.  468-70. 

4.  "Owing  to  the  great  capacity  of  modern  machinery,  the  op- 
eratives employed  by  the  investment  of  savings  can  only  consume  a 
very  small  proportion  of  their  product.  An  outlet  must  be  found  either 
in  the  discovery  of  fresh  markets  in  countries  yet  to  be  'developed' — a 
problem  which  involves  serious  questions  of  foreign  politics — or  in  in- 
creased home  consumption.  Leaving  the  former  of  these  out  of  account 
for  the  present,  as  it  brings  up  international  competition,  and  from  the 
nature  of  things  must  gradually  diminish  in  importance  as  a  solution, 
we  see  that  an  increasing  proportion  of  the  national  income  must  be 
spent  in  order  to  absorb  the  goods  originating  from  savings.  Here  a 
limitation  arises  from  the  manner  in  which  the  annual  income  is  di- 
vided. Out  of  a  population  of  about  forty  million  persons,  some  eight- 
een millions  are  'occupied,'  and  of  these  it  is  estimated  that  thirteen 
millions  constitute  the  manual  labor  class.  They  and  their  dependents, 
therefore,  form  the  home  market  for  the  great  bulk  of  the  production 
of  goods  for  consumption,  and  on  their  ability  to  increase  their  effect- 
ive demand  depends  the  utility  of  the  increased  productivity  of  in- 
dustry. But  they  receive  only  £650,000,000  out  of  the  national  income 
of  £1,700,000,000,  or  less  than  one-third,  and  the  spending  capacity  of 
a  very  large  proportion  of  them  is  much  below  what  the  average  repre- 
sents. Even  those  of  them  who  are  best  off  have  but  a  very  small 
margin  for  conventional  luxuries  after  providing  for  the  bare  neces- 


CHAP.  XI  THE  COLLAPSE  OF  CAPITALISM  149 

italism  will  be  able  to  clear  its  shelves  only  by  closing 
down  its  shops.  Hence,  the  only  final  and  logical  out- 
come of  the  world-trust  is  to  end  the  relief  which  may 
come  to  the  industry  of  any  one  country  by  destroying 
the  industry  of  some  other  country. 

The  world-market  is  already  the  one  market  of  the 
world.  The  business  of  supplying  that  world-market  is 
rapidly  becoming  the  business  of  a  single  combination 
by  the  process  of  competition  and  the  necessary  con- 
solidation resulting  from  the  combination  of  some,  and 
the  destruction  of  others,  of  the  competitors. 

180.  Commercial  Suicide.— Whenever  a  part  of  the 
competitors  are  in  a  world- wide  combination  and  have 
destroyed  all  other  competitors,  then  the  combination 
must  proceed  to  destroy  itself  or  abandon  capitalism. 
For  what  can  the  handful  of  men,  who  may  be  in  that 
final  combination,  do  with  thirty  per  cent,  of  all  the 
products  of  all  the  earth,  products  which  the  employers 
cannot  use;  products  which  the  workers  cannot  buy; 
and  which  cannot  any  longer  be  sold  outside  the  trust- 
controlled  territory,  to  the  profit  of  those  in  the  trust, 
and  to  the  ruin  of  those  not  in  the  trust,  because,  at 
last,  all  the  world  will  be  within  the  grasp  of  the  one 
international  combination  "and  there    are   no    other 
worlds  to  conquer  V9 

181.  The  Collapse.— Therefore,  the  culmination  of 
capitalism  will  insure  its  collapse,  because  production 
under  capitalism  now  depends  on  the  foreign  market 
to  dispose  of  its  surplus;  and  the  foreign  market  can 
last  only  so  long  as  the  international  competitors  are 
engaged  in  the  process  of  destroying  each  other.  '  When 


saries  of  life.  This  permanent  maladjustment  of  purchasing  and  pro- 
ducing power  necesarily  produces  an  incalculable  disorganization  of 
industry,  and  profoundly  increases  the  innate  inability  of  the  com- 
petitive system  to  balance  supply  and  demand." — Macrosty:  Trusts  and 
the  State,  p.  106. 


150  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

that  war  is  over,and  foreign  relief  is  no  longer  possible, 
then,  as  Senator  Hanna  correctly  contends,  under  cap- 
italism, there  is  no  other  alternative  than  to  lessen  pro- 
duction. And  this  process  once  entered  upon,  can  find 
no  stopping  place  short  of  the  complete  collapse  of  cap- 
italism, which  has  itself  evolved  the  process  of  its  own 
destruction. 

Again,  the  culmination  of  capitalism  will  be  its  col- 
lapse, because,  when  the  one  trust  has  bought  the  earth, 
it  cannot  any  longer  re-invest  its  earnings.  The  Kocke- 
fellers  alone  are  buying  up  the  world's  productive  prop- 
erty at  the  rate  of  two  millions  a  week,  but  they  are 
only  one  large  stream.  All  the  ten  thousand  industrial 
and  commercial  currents  are  flowing  hourly  into  larger 
and  larger  streams  and  will  at  last  come  to  the  one  great 
sea.  The  earnings  of  the  trusts  are  going  to  buy  the 
stocks  of  other  corporations  or  the  certificates  or  bonds 
of  other  trusts.  The  whole  world's  resources  are  being 
taxed  to  the  uttermost  to  complete  the  purchase  of  the 
earth  by  a  single  syndicate. 

182.  The  Bankrupt  Trusts.— It  is  sometimes  said 
that  the  trusts  are  overstocked  and  are  bound  to  fail. 
Corporations  have  been  overstocked,  but  no  " crash," 
•due  to  such  causes,  has  taken  us  backward  to  the  small- 
er enterprises,  but  always  forward  to  the  larger  ones. 
Nothing  could  happen  which  would  hasten  the  com- 
ing of  the  final  trust  more  than  a  general  financial  crash 
among  the  trusts.  At  the  present  rate  of  consolidation, 
the  day  is  not  far  off  when  a  sufficient  portion  of  the 
productive  property  of  the  world  will  be  in  the  hands  of 
a  single  combination  to  make  that  combination  prac- 
tically the  master  of  the  earth.  With  even  ten  per  cent, 
of  the  annual  product  of  all  countries  available  for  use 
in  the  purchase  of  the  rest  of  productive  properties  of 
the  earth,  it  will  be  a  short  road  which  will  lead  to 


CHAP.  XI  THE  COLLAPSE  OF  CAPITALISM  151 

the  end  of  this  means  of  re-investment  for  the  earnings 
of  the  trust. 

183.  Played  to  a  Finish.— A  handful  of  men  cannot 
consume  or  waste  one-third  of  the  world 's  products. 
When  they  can  neither  use  nor  re-invest  their  profits, 
the  uninvested  profits  must  accumulate  in  the  vaults  in 
the  same  way  that  the  unsold  goods  will  accumulate  in 
the  store-houses.    Having  bought  the  earth,  the  end 
of  the  buying  business,  so  far  as  productive  property 
is  concerned,  will  be  at  hand.     Capitalism  will  have 
made  the  earth  a  single  great   machine   for   making 
profits,  and  then,  because  it  will  have  already  bought 
the  earth,  it  will  have  no  use  for  the  larger  share  of  the 
profits.    In  the  game  of  trade,  the  most  successful  gam- 
blers of  them  all  will  have  won  all  the  stakes;  will  have 
cleared  the  table  of  all  its  " counters "  and  its  cash;  will 
have  ruined  all  competitors;  will  have  " cinched"  every 
chance;  will  have  privately  marked  all  the  cards;  will 
have  '  *  loaded  all  the  dice ; ' '  there  will  be  no  one  either 
able  to  bet  or  willing  to  take  any  further  chances  in  this 
"braced  game"  of  trade.    So  the  game  of  capitalism 
will  cease  to  be  played,  simply  because  it  will  have  been 
played  to  a  finish  and  the  gamblers,  for  sheer  lack  of 
victims,  "will  adjourn  for  the  night."5 

184.  Compulsory  Idleness.— Again,  the  culmination 
of  capitalism  will  be  its  collapse,  because  the  world- 
trust  cannot  employ  the  workers  of  the  world.    When 

5.  "Capitalism  does  not,  like  feudalism,  lead  to  under-production, 
and  chokes  in  its  own  fat." — Kautsky:  The  Social  Revolution,  p.  89. 

"In  such  a  competition  (America  against  France,  Germany  and 
Russia  for  the  occupation  and  organization  of  interior  China)  suc- 
cess can  only  be  won  by  surpassing  the  enemy  in  his  own  method, 
or  in  that  concentration  which  reduces  waste  to  a  minimum.  Such 
a  concentration  might,  conceivably,  be  effected  by  the  growth  and 
amalgamation  of  the  great  trusts  until  they  absorb  the  government, 
or  it  might  be  brought  about  by  the  central  corporation,  called  the 
government,  absorbing  the  trusts.  In  either  event,  the  result  would 
be  approximately  the  same.  The  Eastern  and  Western  continents  would 
be  competing  for  the  most  perfect  system  of  state  socialism." — Adams: 
American  Economic  Supremacy,  pp.  52-53. 


152  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

the  final  combination  has  its  store-houses  full  of  goods, 
which  it  cannot  sell,  and  its  vaults  full  of  profits,  which 
it  cannot  invest;  and  the  workers  of  the  world  shall 
depend  on  this  one  trust  for  employment,— a  trust 
which  can  neither  re-invest  its  profits  nor  sell  its  goods 
—what  then? 

If  capitalism  is  to  remain,  the  best  it  can  do  is  to 
limit  production  to  the  volume  of  goods  which  those 
in  the  combination  can  use  or  waste,  and  which  will  pro- 
vide an  existence  for  the  workers  employed  in  pro- 
ducing the  goods.  Under  capitalism,  any  production 
beyond  this  will  be  aimless  and  useless,  and  such  a  lim- 
ited production  could  employ  only  a  small  fraction  of 
the  workers  of  the  world.  What  workers  would  be  so 
employed?  It  has  been  seen  in  the  preceding  chapter 
-that  it  would  be  the  workers  in  those  countries  where 
raw  materials  are  cheapest,  access  to  the  sea  most  di- 
rect and  labor  most  helpless.  That  would  mean  that 
capitalism  would  last  longest,  farthest  away  from  the 
greatest  centers  of  the  world's  activity,  for  there  raw 
materials  cost  most  and  labor  is  best  organized.  When 
the  final  trust  comes  it  will  collapse.  It  will  collapse 
first  where  the  workers  are  best  organized  and  where 
society  is  most  advanced.  It  will  not  need  to  collapse  in 
all  places  in  order  to  utterly  collapse  in  most  places. 
And  the  places  of  its  earliest  collapse  will  be  in  those 
countries  where,  when  capitalism  cannot  any  longer 
employ  labor,  labor  will  be  best  prepared  to  employ 
itself.  But  labor  once  perfectly  equipped  and  self-em- 
ployed anywhere  will  rapidly  extend  the  new  order  of 
things  everywhere.6 

6.  "The  day  of  the  capitalist  has  come,  and  he  has  made  full 
use  of  it.  To-morrow  will  be  the  day  of  the  laborer,  provided  he  has 
the  strength  and  the  wisdom  to  use  his  opportunities." — Gibbins:  In- 
dustry in  England,  p.  471. 

"For  this  is  the  close  of  an  era;  we  have  political  freedom;  next 
and  right  away  is  to  come  social  enfranchisement." — Kidd:  Social  Evo- 
lution, pp.  245-46, 


CHAP.  XI  THE  COLLAPSE  OF  CAPITALISM  153 

185.  The  Class  War.— The  evolution  of  capitalism, 
beginning  with  the  creation  of  the  economic  class  war, 
by  the  earliest  form  of  capitalism,  slavery,  and  the  con- 
tinuance of  this  class  war  under  serfdom,  and  its  full 
development  and  final  struggle  under  modern  capital- 
ism, argues  the  collapse  of  capitalism  with  equal  cer- 
tainty. Through  all  the  centuries  of  civilization,  un- 
der the  economic  domination  of  capitalism,  in  its  many 
forms,  this  bitter  economic  war  has  lasted  on  and  on 
-barbarian  against  barbarian,  the  victor  against  the 
captive,  the  master  against  the  slave,  the  lord  against 
the  serf,  the  employer  against  the  employe^- or  the 
warrior,  victor,  master,  lord  and  employer  against  the 
warrior,  captive,  slave,  serf  and  employe,— the  one  an 
ascending  sequence  of  increasing  power,  the  other  a 
descending  sequence  of  increasing  servitude.  Each 
succeeding  relation  has  grown  out  of  the  preceding 
one  as  an  economic  evolution  in  the  interest  of  the  mas- 
ter class. 

But  tomorrow  the  masters  will  be  few  in  number. 
They  will  largely  own  the  earth,  but  they  cannot  use  it. 
They  cannot  re-invest  their  earnings,  they  cannot  sell 
their  goods,  they  cannot  employ  the  workers  and  they 
will  not  have  the  force  to  protect  the  titles  which  they 
have  secured  by  force.  The  economic  class  war  will/ 
end  because  the  evolution  of  capitalism  under  the 
domination  of  the  master  class  will  have  created  a  new 
class  of  masters,  whose  growing  power  capitalism  can- 
not prevent,  and  whose  strength  no  power  on  earth  will 
be  able  to  withstand,  and  whose  welfare  cannot  be  se- 
cured, unless  capitalism  shall  cease  to  be.  The  eco- 
nomic enfranchisement  of  the  working  class  means  the 
disappearance  of  all  other  economic  classes,  and  the  col- 
lapse of  that  age-long  capitalism,  based  on  the  appro- 
priation by  one  class  of  the  products  of  another  class, 
will  be  inevitable  and  final. 


154  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PART  II 

186.  Benevolent  Feudalism.— It  is  sometimes  admit- 
ted that  the  trend  of  things  is  distinctly  as  is  here  in- 
dicated, and  then  it  is  denied  that  the  final  collapse  will 
come.  A  new  feudalism,  "a  benevolent  feudalism,'' 
is  to  prevent  all  this.  Not  only  has  this  been  contended 
for,  but  there  seem  good  reasons  to  believe  that  it  has 
been  definitely  proposed  and  steps  undertaken  to  re- 
alize that  result.7 

It  is  asked  if  great  capitalists  could  form  a  worla- 
wide  combination  to  take  charge  of  the  governments,  as 
well  as  the  industries  of  the  earth,  and  could  so  op- 
erate the  governments  that  they  could  enforce  such 
industrial  activities  as  would  provide  for  the  personal 
comfort  of  all  the  workers,  and  thus,  by  making  "the 
full  dinner  pail"  always  certain,  could  not,  then,  such 
a  condition  of  dependence  between  the  well-fed  work- 
ers and  their  acknowledged  masters  be  established  that 
the  masters  would  provide  directly  for  all  who  would 
submit  to  their  paternal  care,  all  that  could  be  carried 
in  a  " dinner  pail"  and  starve  or  imprison  all  others, 
and  then  use  or  waste  in  private  gardens,  hunting 
grounds  and  personal  services  for  the  masters  all  the 
life  values  of  all  the  people  not  required  for  the  com- 
fortable support  of  the  workers  themselves.  The  great- 
est strength  of  this  suggestion  is  in  the  fact  that  in 
the  culmination  of  capitalism  the  final  group  of  surviv- 
ing capitalists  will  be  forced  into  a  single  combination. 
When  they  have  made  the  last  great  bargain  and  have 
bargained  for  the  world  itself,  that  will  surely  include 
the  governmental  powers  along  with  the  rest.  Then, 
why  will  not  the  surviving  capitalists  choose  to  use 
these  powers  of  the  state  together  with  the  world 's  re- 
sources, which  the  final  trust  will  control,  in  order  to 

7.  W.  T.  Stead  states  that  it  was  the  dream  of  Cecil  Rhodes  to 
establish  such  an  association  of  millionaires.  He  further  claims  that 
Mr.  Rhodes  had  the  approval  of  Mr.  Carnegie  and  others  for  his 
proposals. 


CHAP.    XI  THE  COLLAPSE  OF  CAPITALISM  155 

provide,  at  least,  a  comfortable  existence  for  all,  rather 
than  consent  to  the  universal  collapse  here  pointed  out? 

187.  Inner  Circle  Unable  to  Keep  the  Peace,  Dis- 
guise Its  Crimes  or  Defend  Itself.— The  reasons  why 
this  will  not  be  done  are  many  and  conclusive. 

First.  It  would  mean  that  when  the  final  trust  comes 
the  capitalist  "leopards  will  change  their  spots "  and 
cease  to  lie  in  wait  to  destroy  each  other.  There  is  no 
reason  to  hold  that  they  will  not  continue  their  strife 
which  will  make  the  final  trust,  within  the  final  trust, 
an  ever-lessening  self-destroying  "inner  circle"  inev- 
itable, until  all  shall  collapse  together.8 

Second.  Under  the  final  trust,  the  fact  of  exploita- 
tion will  be  so  clear,  the  exploiters  will  be  so  few,  their 
victims  will  be  so  many,  that  compromise  on  any  terms 
will  be  impossible.9 

Third.  The  workers  could  not  be  made  content  with 
a  ' '  full  dinner  pail. ' '  They  have  contended  for  that  be- 
cause they  did  not  have  it.  Give  it  to  them  and  make 
its  possession  secure  and  they  will  make  a  fight  for 

8.  "Paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  the  riches  of  a  nation  can  be 
measured  by  the  violence  of  the  crises  which  they  experience." — Clement 
Juglar,  quoted  in  Burton's  Crises  and  Depressions,  p.  2. 

"In  spite  of  the  splendor  of  isolated  achievements  in  the  construc- 
tion of  great  businesses,  there  is  some  ground  for  saying  that  the 
lack  of  a  well  co-ordinated  system  of  control  makes  industry  resemble 
at  present  (1900)  a  mob  rather  than  an  armj*  Indeed,  the  headlong 
passion  of  the  mob  in  which  each  stimulates  the  other,  and  because 
there  is  no  plan  things  are  overdone,  resembles  somewhat  the  stress  of 
competition  which  when  unrestrained  ends  in  over-production." — Jones: 
Economic  Crises,  pp.  48-49. 

9.  "Bad  kings  and  governors  help  us,  if  only  they  are  bad  enough." 
— Emerson:  Natural  History  of  the  Intellect,  p.  220. 

"In  the  trusts,  freedom  of  competition  changes  into  its  very  op- 
posite— into  monopoly;  and  the  production  without  any  definite  plaoi 
of  capitalistic  society  capitulates  to  the  production  upon  a  definite 
plan  of  the  invading"  socialistic  society.  Certainly  this  is  so  far  still 
to  the  benefit  and  advantage  of  the  capitalists.  But  in  this  case  the 
exploitation  is  so  palpable  that  it  must  break  down.  No  nation  will 
put  up  with  production  conducted  by  trusts,  with  so  barefaced  an  ex- 
ploitation of  the  community  by  a  small  band  of  dividend-mongers." — 
Engels:  Socialism,  Utopian  and  Scientific,  p.  69. 

"Man  casts  aside  his  worn-out  tools,  but  he  keeps  all  that  he  has 
won  by  means  of  them." — Lefevre:  Race  and  Language,  p.  63. 


156  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CAPITALISM  PABT  II 

more,  and  now  having  full  stomachs,  will  increase  the 
fury  of  their  demand  as  they  are  stronger  to  make  de- 
mands.10 

It  should  be  remembered,  when  the  great  estates  in 
ancient  Eome  attempted  to  improve  the  lot  of  their 
slaves  so  that  more  slaves  could  be  gotten  by  birth, 
when  conquest  could  provide  no  more,  how  quickly  the 
effort  to  improve  the  slave  destroyed  slavery. 

It  should  be  remembered,  when  the  English  landlords 
found  that  too  many  serfs  were  taking  advantage  of 
their  right  to  go,  the  landlords  attempted  to  keep 
their  serfs  by  improving  the  lot  of  the  serf,  how  quickly 
serfdom  ceased  to  exist.  When  capitalism  shall  once 
sincerely  try  to  improve  the  lot  of  the  workers,  that  will 
be  the  end  of  capitalism. 

If  the  final  trust  keeps  on  its  way  of  capitalistic  pro- 
duction and  exploitation,  it  must  collapse.  If  the  final 
trust  tries  to  keep  the  peace  and  perpetuate  itself  by 
offering  the  workers  half  a  loaf,  they  will  proceed  to 
demand  and  to  take  possession  of  the  whole  bakery  it- 
self. And,  hence,  again,  the  culmination  of  capitalism 
will  be  its  own  collapse. 

188.  Summary.— 1.  The  culmination  of  capitalism 
will  involve  its  collapse  for  the  following  reasons: 

(a)  Capitalism,  depends  upon  a  foreign  market  in 
which  to  sell  its  surplus  products.    The  culmination  of 
capitalism  will  make  all  markets  into  a  single  world 
market  and  make  an  end  of  the  foreign  market. 

(b)  Capitalism  depends  for  the  investment  of  its 
profits  upon  larger  and  larger  purchases  of  the  world 's 

10.  "The  mere  fact  of  satisfying  wants  or  leaving  them  unsatis- 
fied is  one  of  the  principal  causes  of  their  development,  change  in 
character,  or  complete  suppression.  Many  wants,  if  regularly  satis- 
fied, tend  to  increase  in  strength.  There  are  also  many  which,  if  left 
unsatisfied  will  diminish  in  intensity;  and  some  will  die  out  entirely. 
The  desire  for  works  of  art  is  strengthened  by  the  study  of  art.  The 
desire  for  knowledge  is  increased  by  its  acquisition." — Osborne:  Prin- 
ciples of  Economics,  pp.  12-13. 


CHAP.    XI  THE  COLLAPSE  OF  CAPITALISM  157 

productive  property.  The  culmination  of  capitalism 
will  come  when  the  final  trust  shall  have  bought  a  con- 
trolling interest  in  the  earth.  The  profits  cannot  then 
be  re-invested,  and  the  profit  system  must  collapse. 

(c)  Capitalism  can  continue  only  so  long  as  the 
workers  shall  continue  to  consent  to  its  existence.  ,The 
culmination  of  capitalism  will  make  impossible  any  ra- 
tional provision  for  the  existence  of  the  working  class 
under  capitalism.  Without  the  consent  of  the  working 
class,  capitalism  must  collapse.^ 

2.  The  creation  of  a  benevolent  feudalism  as  the 
culmination  of  capitalism  will  be  impossible,  and  for  the 
following  reasons : 

(a)  Because  the  struggle  for  mastery  among  the 
masters  will  continue  until  all  collapse. 

(b)  Because  of  the  impossibility  of  longer  conceal- 
ing the  infamous  nature  of   capitalistic   exploitation 
from  the  knowledge  of  those  exploited. 

(c)  Because  to  grant  satisfaction  to  the  present  de- 
sires of  the  workers  will  create  new  demands,  with  add- 
ed power  to  enforce  them,  until  they  will  have  demand- 
ed and  obtained  all  there  is  of  the  earth  and  its  re- 
sources for  all  mankind. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  is  the  principal  reason  why  any  one  country  cannot  dis- 
pose of  all  of  its  staple  products  at  home? 

2.  What  must  happen  to  the  producers  of  other  countries  whenever 
a  new  country  wins  the  trade  of  the  world-market? 

3.  When  a  single  combination  shall  own  the  industries  of  all  coun- 
tries, where,  then,  can  a  foreign  market  be  found  for  the  surplus  prod- 
ucts of  any  country? 

4.  When  the  world-trust  has  bought  the  world,  where,  then,  will 
it  make  further  investments  of  its  earnings? 

5.  Will  the  world-trust  be  able  to  provide  work  for  all? 

6.  Will  the  handful  of  private  owners  of  the  earth  be  able  to 
protect  their  titles? 

7.  Why    not   a   benevolent    feudalism? 


CHAPTER  XII 

• 

A  SUMMARY  OF  PART  SECOND 

189.    1.    The  early  forms  of  capitalism  began  when 
slavery  began. 

2.  Slavery  was  the  result  of  the  wars  of  the  later 
days  of  barbarism. 

3.  Slavery  was  abandoned  by  the  masters  for  serf- 
dom when  that  was  found  to  be  the  more  profitable 
form  of  servile  toil. 

4.  Serfdom  was  changed  to  the  wage  system  by  the 
masters ;  and  the  serfs  who  were  evicted  from  the  feudal 
estates  became  wage-workers  in  the  rising  factory  towns. 

5.  The  workers  who  remained  in  the  country  grew 
into  self-employing  workers,  only  to  have  their  self- 
employment  made  impossible  by  the  later  developments 
of  capitalism. 

6.  The  era  of  invention  came  as  the  result  of  the  self- 
employment  in  the  free  cities  of  Europe  and  on  the 
American  frontier. 

7.  The  new  machinery  made  joint  ownership,  joint 
labor  and  the  larger  market  inevitable;  and  joint  own- 
ership grew  into  the  corporation. 

8.  Competing  corporations,  both  by  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  weaker  competitors  and  by  the  combina- 

158 


SUMMARY  159 

tion  of  the  stronger  ones,  as  the  only  means  of  escape 
from  mutual  destruction  by  competition,  created  the 
trust. 

9.  The  trust  found  it  necessary  either  to  combine 
with,  or  to  destroy,  all  competitors  selling  in  the  same 
market. 

10.  The  market  was  made  a  world-market  by  manu- 
facturers in  all  countries  seeking  to  sell  in  other  coun- 
tries the  surplus  of  their  products,— that  is,  what  they 
produced  in  excess  of  what  the  capitalists  could  use  and 
what  the  wages  of  the  workers  could  buy. 

11.  The  trust  becomes  a  world-trust  striving  to  com- 
bine with,  or  to  destroy,  all  competitors  selling  in  the 
world-market. 

12.  The  trust  is  unable  to  re-invest  its  earnings  in 
its  own  business,  and  so  must  re-invest  in  other  lines 
until  all  lines  of  business  are  brought  within  the  control 
of  a  single  trust. 

13.  The  trust,  becoming  a  world-trust,  can  then  find 
no  market  foreign  to  its  own  territory,  for  then  all 
territory  will  be  trust  territory,  and  hence  must  lose 
its  foreign  market  for  surplus  products. 

14.  The  trust,  controlling  all  industries  in  all  coun- 
tries, cannot  employ  all  labor,  because  its  only  market 
will  be  what  the  capitalists  can  use  and  what  the  wages 
of  the  workers  can  buy. 

15.  As  this  will  leave  unsold  the  surplus  which  the 
workers  produce  and  cannot  buy,  a  constantly  and  rap- 

|idly  increasing  portion  of  the  workers  must  lose  em- 
ployment. 

16.  The  culmination  of  capitalism  is  in  the  world- 
trust. 

17.  The  surplus  goods  of  the  trust  cannot  then  be 
sold,  the  profits  of  the  trust  cannot  then  be  re-invested, 
and  the  workers  of  the  world  cannot  then  be  employed. 

18.  The  culmination  of  capitalism  is  its  collapse. 


PART    III 
THE  EVOLUTION   OF    SOCIALISM 


CHAPTER  XIII 

COLLECTIVISM,  DEMOCRACY  AND  EQUALITY 

190.  Capitalism  Not  the  Invention  of  Capitalists.  - 
In  the  discussion  of  the  origin  and  development  of  cap- 
italism, the  reader  will  notice  that  the  discussion  has 
been  entirely  devoted  to  the  consideration  of  social 
and  economic  forces.    Individuals  have  not  been  con- 
sidered.   It  would  be  quite  possible  to  give  an  account 
of  the  development  of  capitalism  in  which  the  names  of 
famous  inventors,  discoverers,  or  captains  of  industry 
would  be  largely  considered,  but  such  a  discussion 
would  be  very  misleading,  because  it  would  leave  the 
impression  that  these  men  had  created  capitalism  and 
not  that  the  social  and  economic  forces,  by  the  long  and 
constant  evolution  which  we  have  followed,  have  cre- 
ated the  economic  conditions  which  have  made  both 
capitalism  and  the  capitalists. 

191.  Socialism  Not  the  Invention  of  Socialists.— In 
the  same  way,  any  study  of  the  origin  and  development 
of  Socialism  which  gives  attention  to  the  consideration 


CHAP.  XIII      COLLECTIVISM,  DEMOCRACY,  EQUALITY  161 

of  the  persons  who  have  discovered  the  truths  or  have 
formulated  the  statement  of  the  truths  which  the  So- 
cialists teach,  will  mislead  the  student,  and  in  spite  of 
himself,  leave  with  him  the  impression  that  Socialism 
is  the  invention  or  contrivance  of  some  great  mind,  the 
child  of  some  great  genius,  and  that  the  student  of  So- 
cialism is  simply  the  student,  not  of  social  forces,  but 
of  the  sayings  and  doings  of  distinguished  Socialists.1 

192.  Underlying    Principles.— Socialism    proposes 
Collective  Ownership,  Democratic  Management    and 
Equal  Opportunity  in  the  collectively  used  means  of 
producing  the  means  of  life.    The  three  great  principles 
which  underlie  the  Socialist  proposals  are:   Collectiv- 
ism, Democracy,  and  Equality.     If  we  are  to  under- 
stand the  origin  and  development  of  Socialism,  we 
must  find  the  beginnings  and  trace  the  growth  of  the 
social  forces  which  are  making  certain  the  coming  tri- 
umph of  these  principles  as  related  to  the  whole  life 
of  man,  but  especially  as  related  to  the  overthrow  of 
the  corresponding  wrongs  of  monopoly,  tyranny  and 
inequality  of  opportuity.    These  wrongs  have  grown 
with  the  growth  of  capitalism,  are  the  central  fea- 
tures of  capitalism  and  can  disappear  from  the  life  of 
man  only  by  the  disappearance  of  capitalism. 

193.  Inherent  in  the  Nature  of  Things.— Collectiv- 
ism, Democracy  and  Equality  are  inherent  in  the  nat- 
ural and  necessary  relations  of  human  existence.  Wher- 
ever monopoly  has  overthrown  Collectivism,  wherever 
tyranny  has  succeeded  Democracy,  wherever  inequality 
has  usurped  the  place  of  Equality  of  Opportunity,  it 

1.  There  are  a  number  of  valuable  works  which  deal  largely  with 
the  biographies  of  distinguished  Socialists,  accounts  of  their  activities 
in  agitation  and  organization,  and  which  will  be  of  great  interest  to 
the  student,  among  which  are: 

Liebknecht:  Karl  Marx. 

Morris  Hillquit:  History  of  Socialism  in  the  United  States. 

Kirkup:  A  History  of  Socialism. 

Ely:  French  and  German  Socialism  in  Modern  Times. 

Rae:     Contemporary  Socialism. 


162  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

lias  always  been  with  the  result  of  the  speedy  degen- 
eracy of  the  people  involved,  or  else,  the  monopoly,  tyr- 
anny and  inequality  have,  by  an  evolutionary  process, 
in  the  end,  through  a  revolutionary  consummation,  re- 
established Collectivism,  Democracy  and  Equality,  usu- 
ally on  a  firmer  basis  than  before.  This  strife  between 
Collectivism,  Democracy  and  Equality,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  monopoly,  tyranny  and  inequality  on  the  other,  has 
been,  and  is,  one  of  the  most  marked  features  of  the 
struggle  for  existence.2 
194.  Collectivism  in  Simplest  Forms  of  Life.— So 

2.  "Burying  beetles  bury  in  ground  corpses  of  all  kinds  of  small 
animals.  When  one  of  them  finds  a  corpse  which  it  can  hardly  manage 
to  bury  itself,  it  calls  four,  six,  or  ten  other  beetles  to  perform  the 
operation  with  united  efforts. 

******** 

"Some  land-crabs  of  the  West  Indies  and  North  America  combine 
in  large  swarms  in  order  to  travel  to  the  sea  and  to  deposit  therein 
their  spawn;  and  each  such  migration  implies  concert,  co-operation 
and  mutual  support. 

******** 

"If  we  take  an  ants'  nest,  we  not  only  see  that  every  description 
of  work — rearing  of  progeny,  foraging,  building,  rearing  of  aphides  and 
so  on — is  performed  according  to  the  principles  of  voluntary  mutual 
aid;  we  must  also  recognize,  with  Forel,  that  the  chief,  the  funda- 
mental feature  of  the  life  of  many  species  of  ants  is  the  fact  and  the 
obligation  for  every  ant  of  sharing  its  food,  already  swallowed  and 
partly  digested,  with  every  member  of  the  community  which  may  apply 
for  it. 

******** 

"When  a  new  swarm  of  bees  is  going  to  leave  the  hive  in  search 
of  a  new  abode,  a  number  of  bees  will  make  a  preliminary  exploration 
of  the  neighborhoood,  and  if  they  discover  a  convenient  dwelling-place 
— say,  an  old  basket,  or  anything  of  the  kind — they  will  take  posses- 
sion of  it,  and  guard  it,  sometimes  for  a  whole  week,  till  the  swarm 
comes  to  settle  therein. 

******** 

"The  white-tailed  eagles  always  assemble  for  devouring  a  corpse, 
and  some  of  them  (the  younger  ones  first)  always  keep  watch  while  the 
others  are  eating. 

******** 

"But  the  fishing  associations  of  the  pelicans  are  certainly  worthy 
of  notice  for  the  remarkable  order  and  intelligence  displayed  by  these 
clumsy  birds.  They  always  go  fishing  in  numerous  bands,  and  after 
having  chosen  an  appropriate  -bay,  they  form  a  wide  half-circle  in  face 
of  the  shore,  and  narrow  it  by  paddling  towards  the  shore,  catching  all 
fish  that  happen  to  be  enclosed  in  the  circle.  On  narrow  rivers  and 
canals  they  even  divide  into  two  parties,  each  of  which  draws  upon  a 
half -circle,  and  both  paddle  to  meet  each  other,  just  as  if  two  parties 


CHAP.  XIII      COLLECTIVISM,.  DEMOCRACY,  EQUALITY  163 

soon  as  the  forms  of  life  had  reached  the  stage  where 
the  segregation  of  new  living  cells  which  were  to  grow 
into  new  members  of  the  species,  involved  the  produc- 
tion of  the  egg  and  hence  the  propagation  of  new  life 
involved  sex  relations,— so  soon,  in  the  development  of 
the  forms  of  life,  only  those  forms  could  survive  which 


of  men  dragging  two  long  nets  should  advance  to  capture  all  fish  taken 
between  the  nets  when  both  parties  come  to  meet. 

******** 

"Even  eagles — even  the  powerful  and  terrible  booted  eagle,  and  the 
martial  eagle,  which  is  strong  enough  to  carry  away  a  hare  or  a 
young  antelope  in  its  claws — are  compelled  to  abandon  their  prey 
to  bands  of  those  beggars,  the  kites,  which  give  the  eagle  a  regular  chase 
as  soon  as  they  see  it  in  possession  of  a  good  prey.  The  kites  will 
also  give  chase  to  the  swift  fishing-hawk,  and  rob  it  of  the  fish  it  has 
captured;  but  no  one  ever  saw  the  kites  fighting  together  for  the  pos- 
session of  the  prey  so  stolen. 

******** 

"Take,  for  instance,  a  band  of  white  cacadoos  in  Australia.  Be- 
fore starting  to  plunder  a  corn-field  they  send  out  a  reconnoitering 
party,  which  occupies  the  highest  trees  in  the  vicinity  of  the  field,  while 
other  scouts  perch  upon  the  intermediate  trees  between  the  field  and  the 
forest  and  transmit  the  signals.  If  the  report  runs  all  right,  a  score 
of  cacadoos  will  separate  from  the  bulk  of  the  band,  take  a  fight  in  the 
air,  and  then  fly  towards  the  trees  nearest  to  the  field.  They  will  also 
scrutinize  the  neighborhood  for  a  long  while,  and  only  then  will  they 
give  the  signal  for  general  advance,  after  which  the  whole  band  starts 
at  once  and  plunders  the  field  in  no  time. 

******** 

"Life  in  societies  is  again  the  rule  with  the  large  family  of  horses, 
which  includes  the  wild  horses  and  donkeys  of  Asia,  the  zebras,  the 
mustangs,  the  cimarones  of  the  Pampas,  and  the  half-wild  horses 
of  Mongolia  and  Siberia.  They  all  live  in  numerous  associaions  made 
up  of  many  studs,  each  of  which  consists  of  a  number  of  mares  under 
the  leadership  of  a  male.  These  numberless  inhabitants  of  the  Old  and 
the  New  World,  badly  organized  on  the  whole  for  resisting  both  their 
numerous  enemies  and  the  adverse  conditions  of  climate,  would  soon 
have  disappeared  from  the  surface  of  the  earth  were  it  not  for  their 
sociable  spirit.  When  a  beast  of  prey  approaches  them,  several  studs 
unite  at  once;  they  repulse  the  beast  and  sometimes  chase  it;  and 
neither  the  wolf  nor  the  bear,  not  even  the  lion,  can  capture  a  horse  or 
even  a  zebra  as  long  as  they  are  not  detached  from  the  herd.  When  a 
drought  is  burning  the  grass  in  the  prairies,  they  gather  in  herds  of 
sometimes  10,000  indivduals  strong,  and  migrate.  And  when  a  snow- 
storm rages  in  the  steppes,  each  stud  keeps  close,  and  repairs  to  a  pro- 
tected ravine.  *  *  *  Union  is  their  chief  arm  in  the  struggle  for 
life,  and  man  is  their  chief  enemy. 

******** 

"Several  species  (of  monkeys)  display  the  greatest  solicitude  for 
their  wounded,  and  do  not  abandon  a  wounded  comrade  during  a  re- 
treat till  they  have  ascertained  that  it  is  dead  and  that  they  are 


164  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM*  PART  III 

learned  to  co-operate,  because  the  production  of  the 
fertile  egg  is  a  co-operative  process.  It  is  not  contend- 
ed that  all  did  co-operate;  only,  that  those  that  did  not 
co-operate  could  not  extend  their  existence  beyond  a 
single  generation. 

195.  In  Care  of  Young.— When  the  forms  of  life  had 
advanced  and  the  improved  form  of  life  had  greatly 
lengthened  the  period  of  the  helplessness  of  the  new 
born,  then  only  those  forms  of  life  could  survive  which 
were  able  to  extend  the  parental  collectivism  to  co- 
operation with  the  new  born  in  its  struggle  for  exist- 
ence. It  is  not  contended  that  all  did  co-operate  with 
the  young,  but  it  is  evident  that  the  neglected  young 
could  not  survive,  and  hence,  only  those  became  the 


helpless  to  restore  it  to  life.  *  *  *  In  some  species  several  individ- 
uals will  combine  to  overturn  a  stone  in  order  to  seach  for  ants'  eggs 
under  it. 

******** 

"As  to  beavers,  which  are  endowed,  as  known,  with  a  most  sym- 
pathetic character,  their  astounding  dams  and  villages,  in  which  gen- 
erations live  and  die,  without  knowing  of  any  enemies  but  the  otter 
and  man,  so  wonderfully  illustrate  what  mutual  aid  can  achieve  for 
the  security  of  the  species,  the  development  of  social  habits  and  the 
evolution  of  intelligence,  that  they  are  familiar  to  all  intersted  in 
animal  life. 

"Association  is  found  in  the  animal  world  at  all  degrees  of  evolu- 
tion; *  *  *  colonies  are  the  very  origin  of  evolution  in  the  ani- 
mal kingdom.  But,  in  proportion  as  we  ascend  the  scale  of  evolution, 
we  see  association  growing  more  and  more  conscious.  It  loses  its  pure- 
ly physical  character,  it  ceases  to  be  simply  instinctive,  it  becomes  rea- 
soned. With  the  higher  vertebrates  it  is  periodical,  or  is  resorted 
to  for  the  satisfaction  of  a  given  want — propagation  of  the  species,  mi- 
gration, hunting  or  mutual  defense.  It  even  becomes  occasional  when 
birds  associate  against  a  robber,  or  mammals  combine,  under  pressure 
of  exceptional  circumstances,  to  emigrate.  In  this  last  case,  it  becomes 
a  voluntary  deviation  from  habitual  moods  of  life.  The  combination 
sometimes  appears  in  two  or  more  degrees — the  family  first,  then  the 
group,  and  finally  the  association  of  groups,  habitually  scattered,  but 
uniting  in  case  of  need,  as  with  the  bisons  and  other  ruminants.  It 
also  takes  higher  forms,  guaranteeing  more  independence  to  the  individ- 
ual without  depriving  it  of  the  benefits  of  social  life.  With  most 
rodents  the  individual  has  its  own  dwelling,  which  it  can  retire  to  when 
it  prefers  being  left  alone;  but  the  dwellings  are  laid  out  in  villages 
and  cities,  so  as  to  guarantee  to  all  inhabitants  the  benefits  and  joys 
of  social  life."— Kropotkin :  Mutual  Aid,  Chapters  I.,  II. 


CHAP.  XIII      COLLECTIVISM,  DEMOCRACY,  EQUALITY  165 

seed  plant  for  future  survivals  that  did  so  co-operate 
with  their  young.3 

196.  In    Primitive    Groups.— When,  in  the  early 
forms  of  primitive  life,  human  beings  began  to  act  in 
groups  for  each  other  and  against  beasts  of  prey  and 
other  and  hostile  groups  of  men,  then  only  those  who 
learned  to  stand  together,  to  co-operate  within  and  for 
the  groups,  were  able  to  survive.4    It  is  not  contended 
that  all  the  members  of  all  the  groups  did  so  co-operate, 
but  it  is  evident  that  those  groups  which  did  not  co- 
operate would  be  utterly  destroyed  in  the  struggle  for 
existence  with  the  groups  which  did  so  co-operate,  and 
would  therefore  cease  to  be  factors  in  the  perpetua- 
tion of  the  race,  leaving  this  function  to  those  who  had 
learned  the  lesson  of  co-operation,  of  collectivism.5 

197.  In  the  Nations.— As  the  barbarian  tribes  grew 
into  nations,  it  was  those  nations  which  were  best  able 
to  create  a  solidarity  of  national  interest,  those  whose 
citizens  learned  best  to  co-operate  with  each  other,  and 
against  the  whole  world  without,  which  were  best  able 

3.  "Observation  of  the  most  savage  races  agrees  with  the  compara- 
tive study  of  the  institutions  of  civilized  peoples,  in  proving  that  the 
only  bond  of  political  union  recognized  among  primitive  men,  or  con- 
ceivable by  them,  was  the  physical  fact  of  blood-relationship." — Fiske: 
Destiny  of  Man,  pp.  78-79. 

4.  "Only  by  glancing  back  over  this  history  in  rapid  review  can 
we  discover  whether,  on  the  whole,  we  are  still  the  primitive  egoists 
that   Nietzsche   would   approve,   or   sympathetic,    if   not   always   close 
and  believing,  followers  of  Count  Tolstoi. 

"We  must  go  back  to  that  little  group  of  blood  kindred  which 
was  the  earliest  human  community.  A  few  brothers  and  sisters,  rec- 
ognizing their  maternal  kinship  maintained  a  common  lair  or  camp, 
struggled  together  against  beast  and  nature,  and  together  obtained 
food  supplies.  Within  that  little  band  the  competition  of  the  Dar- 
winian struggle  had,  in  a  measure,  ceased.  Toward  all  life  that  lay 
beyond  the  circle,  the  rule  was  unrelenting  war.  Here,  then,  at 
the  outset  of  human  life,  the  two  standards  were  already  established! 
Helpfulness,  compassion,  forgiveness  even,  were  right  and  expedient 
within  the  group.  Remorseless  enmity,  cruelty,  treachery,  any  ex- 
pedient was  right  toward  those  men  or  groups  against  which  the  band 
must  struggle  for  its  own  existence." — Giddings:  Democracy  and  Em- 
pire, p.  354. 

5.  The  instant  society  becomes  organized  in  clans,  natural  selec- 
tion can  not  let  these  clans  die  out, — the  clan  becomes  the  chief  object 


166  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

to  survive.6  It  was  Collectivism  within  the  nations 
which  made  them  victorious  over  those  less  able  to  co- 
operate and  so  less  able  to  survive.  In  the  development 
of  the  modern  nations,  those  most  race-conscious,  those 
most  conscious  of  their  class  solidarity,  those  best  able 
to  co-operate,  are  the  ones  which  have  made  themselves 
at  last  the  joint  masters  of  the  world. 

198.  In  Business.— The  same  is  true  of  business  en- 
terprises. As  capitalism  has  grown,  its  very  monop- 
olies have  been  developed  by  those  best  able  to  effect 
co-operative  relations  among  themselves.  This  very 
monopoly,  in  its  final  evolution,  will  be  destroyed  as 
a  monopoly,  by  the  enlargement  of  its  own  Collectivism 
to  include  all  manking  in  the  benefits  of  this  Collectiv- 

or  care  of  natural  selection,  because  if  you  destroy  it  you  retrograde 
again,  you  lose  all  you  have  gained;  consequently,  those  clans  in  which 
the  primeval  selfish  instincts  were  so  modified  that  their  individual 
conduct  would  be  subordinated  to  some  extent  to  the  needs  of  the 
clan, — those  are  the  ones  that  would  prevail  in  the  struggle  for  life."- 
Fiske:  A  Century  of  Science,  p.  110. 

"Deprive  a  pack  of  wolves  of  the  tribal  instinct  that  keeps  them 
from  rending  each  other,  and  place  a  single  carcass  before  them,  and 
their  conduct  may  illustrate  the  economic  system  which  would  re- 
sult from  the  unrestrained  action  of  selfish  motives  among  men." — 
Clark:  Philosophy  of  Wealth,  p.  15. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  Prof.  Clark  finds  it  necessary  to 
deprive  the  wolves  of  "tribal  instinct" — that  is,  of  Collectivism — be- 
fore he  can  safely  use  them  to  illustrate  the  consequences  of  the 
absence  of  Collectivism  among  men. 

6.  "The  environment  of  each  little  tribe  is  (in  early  times)  ft^ 
congeries  of  neighboring  hostile  tribes;  and  the  necessity  of  escaping 
captivity  or  death  involves  continual  readiness  for  warfare,  and  the 
continual  manifestation  of  the  entire  class  of  warlike  unsocial  pas- 
sions; while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  tribe  is  so  small  and  homogeneous 
that  the  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  sympathetic  and  social  feel- 
ings is  confined  chiefly  to  the  conjugal  and  parental  relations.  Never- 
theless in  the  exercise  of  these  feelings  in  these  relations  are  contained 
the  germs  of  all  subsequent  social  progress.  While  without  the  limited 
sphere  of  the  tribe  all  is  hatred,  revenge,  and  desire  to  domineer,  within 
the  limits  of  the  tribe  there  is  rom  for  the  rudimentary  display  of  such 
feelings  as  loyalty,  gratitude,  equity,  family  affection,  personal  friend- 
ship and  regard  for  the  claims  of  others." — Fiske:  Outlines  of  Cosmic 
Philosophy,  Vol.  II.,  p.  203. 

"The  rise  of  empires,  this  coalescence  of  small  groups  of  men  into 
larger  and  larger  political  aggregates,  has  been  the  chief  work  of  civili- 
zation when  looked  at  from  its  political  side." — Fiske:  Destiny  of  Man, 
p.  85. 


CHAP.  XIII      COLLECTIVISM,  DEMOCRACY,  EQUALITY  167 

ism,  now  of  a  part  of  the  people  only,  and  which  in  its 
half-grown  form  monopolizes,  for  a  few,  the  interests 
of  all.7 

Here  is  the  general  scientific  truth,  that  in  the  strug- 
gle for  existence  throughout  all  forms  of  life,  other 
things  being  equal,  those  forms  of  life  are  best  able  to 
survive  among  which  Collectivism  is  most  completed 

199.  Democracy.— The  same  is  true  of  Democracy. 
It  is  inherent  in  the  natural  and  necessary  relations  of 
human  existence.  It  also  is  an  important  condition  of 
survival  in  the  struggle  for  existence.  In  the  very 

7.  .  "But,  it  will  be  said,  competition,  as  a  natural  law,  divides 
advantages,  and  this  division  should  be  final.    To  this  assertion  we  an- 
swer, yes  and  no.    Natural  law  is  not  to  be  set  aside,  and  cannot  often 
be  set  aside;  but  natural  law  is  always  to  be  supplemented  by  the  law 
of  reason  by  well-directed  human  and  humane  endeavor.    Reason  is  it- 
self a  higher  natural  law." — Bascom :  Sociology,  p.  229. 

"We  need  no  longer  call  in  the  Socialist  to  testify  against  the 
uncurbed  struggle  in  industry.  The  last  twenty  years  have  taught  the 
lesson  so  thoroughly  to  our  foremost  business  men  that  they  are  be- 
coming our  instructors.  Not  alone  with  transportation,  but  with  iron, 
with  textiles,  with  insurance,  with  banking,  and  with  many  of  the  com- 
monest products,  the  unrestrained  scramble  of  private  interests  is  now 
seen  to  be  intolerable.  Good  business  now  sets  the  limit  to  competi- 
tion by  organizing  co-operation.  To  check  and  control  the  excesses  of 
competition  has  become  the  mark  of  first-class  ability.  A  railroad 
president  has  been  dismissed  because  'he  insists  upon  fighting  other 
roads  instead  of  working  with  them.'  Acording  to  his  own  account,  the 
head  of  another  road  owes  his  appointment  to  the  fact  that  (in. his 
own  words)  'I  was  known  to  have  some  aptitude  for  working  with  rival 
interests'."— Brooks :  Social  Unrest,  pp.  30-31. 

8.  "Man  in  the  rudest  state  in  which  he  now  exists  is  the  most 
dominant  animal  that  has  ever  appeared  on  this  earth.    He  has  spread 
more  widely  than  any  other  highly  organized  form,  and  all  others  have 
yielded   before   him.      He   manifestly   owes   this    immense    superiority 
to  his  intellectual  faculties,  to  his  social  habits,  which  lead  him  to  aid 
and  defend  his  fellows,  and  to  his  corporeal  structure." 

"The  small  strength  and  speed  of  man,  his  want  of  natural  weap- 
ons, etc.,  are  more  than  counterbalanced,  firstly,  by  his  intellectual 
powers,  through  which  he  has  formed  for  himself  weapons,  tools,  etc., 
though  still  remaining  in  a  barbaric  state,  and,  secondly,  by  his  social 
qualities,  which  lead  him  to  give  and  receive  aid  from  his  fellow  men." 

"With  those  animals  which  were  benefited  by  living  in  close  asso- 
ciation, the  individuals  which  took  the  greatest  pleasure  in  society 
would  best  escape  various  dangers;  while  those  that  cared  least  for 
their  comrades,  and  lived  solitary,  would  perish  in  greater  numbers." — 
Darwin:  Descent  of  Man,  Chapters  II.,  IV. 

"That  life  in  societies  is  the  most  powerful  weapon  in  the  struggle 
for  life,  taken  in  its  widest  sense,  has  been  illustrated  by  several  ex- 


168  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

simplest  forms  of  life,  before  sex  relations  had  been 
evolved,  when  one  simple  cell  created  another,  it  was 
another  cell  which  was  created,  full,  complete,  inde- 
pendent, fully  equipped  to  become  itself  the  creator  of 
other  cells.  No  other  kind  of  cells  could  survive. 

200.  In  an  Organism.— When  cells  began  to  special- 
ize so  that  finally  one  set  of  cells  grew  into  an  eye,  and 
another  into  an  arm,  each  set  of  cells  grew  into  a  real 
organ,  with  its  own  necessary  functions,  a  real  and  liv- 

amples  on  the  foregoing  pages,  and  could  be  illustrated  by  any  amount 
of  evidence,  if  further  evidence  were  required.  Life  in  societies  en- 
ables the  feeblest  insects,  the  feeblest  birds,  and  the  feeblest  mammals 
to  resist,  or  to  protect  themselves  from  the  most  terrible  birds  and 
beasts  of  prey;  it  permits  longevity;  it  enables  the  species  to  rear 
its  progeny  with  the  least  waste  of  energy  and  to  maintain  its  num- 
bers albeit  at  a  very  slow  birth-rate;  it  enables  the  gregarious  animals 
to  migrate  in  search  of  new  abodes.  Therefore,  while  fully  admitting 
that  force,  swiftness,  protective  colors,  cunningness,  and  endurance  to 
hunger  and  cold,  which  are  mentioned  by  Darwin  and  Wallace,  are  so 
many  qualities  making  the  individual,  or  the  species,  the  fittest  under 
certain  circumstances,  we  maintain  that  under  any  circumstances 
sociability  is  the  greatest  advantage  in  the  struggle  for  life.  Those 
species  which  willingly  or  unwillingly  abandon  it  are  doomed  to  decay; 
while  those  animals  which  know  best  how  to  combine  have  the  great- 
est chances  of  survival  and  of  further  evolution,  although  they  may 
be  inferior  to  others  in  each  of  the  faculties  enumerated  by  Darwin 
and  Wallace,  save  the  intellectual  faculty.  The  highest  vertebrates 
and  especially  mankind  are  the  best  proof  of  this  assertion.  As  to  the 
intellectual  faculty,  while  every  Darwinist  will  agree  with  Darwin 
that  it  is  the  most  powerful  arm  in  the  struggle  for  life,  and  the  most 
powerful  factor  of  further  evolution,  he  also  will  admit  that  intelli- 
gence is  an  eminently  social  faculty.  Language,  imitation  and  ac- 
cumulated experience  are  so  many  elements  of  growing  intelligence 
of  which  the  unsociable  animal  is  deprived.  Therefore  we  find,  at  the 
top  of  each  class  of  animals,  the  ants,  the  parrots,  and  the  monkeys, 
all  combining  the  greatest  sociability  with  the  highest  development 
of  intelligence.  The  fittest  are  thus  the  most  sociable  animals,  and 
sociability  appears  as  the  chief  factor  of  evolution,  both  directly  by 
securing  the  well-being  of  the  species  while  diminshing  the  waste  of 
energy,  and  indirectly,  by  favoring  the  growth  of  intelligence. 

"Moreover,  it  is  evident  that  life  in  societies  would  be  utterly 
impossible  without  corresponding  development  of  social  feelings,  and, 
especially,  of  a  certain  collective  sense  of  justice  growing  to  become 
a  habit.  If  every  individual  were  constantly  abusing  its  personal 
advantages  without  the  others  interfering  in  favor  of  the  wronged, 
no  society-life  would  be  possible.  And  feelings  of  justice  develop, 
more  or  less,  with  all  gregarious  animals.  *  *  *  Sociability  thus 
puts  a  limit  to  physical  struggle,  and  leaves  room  for  the  develop- 
ment of  better  moral  feelings.  *  *  *  In  short,  neither  the  crush- 
ing powers  of  the  centralize^  state  nor  the  teachings  of  mutual 


CHAP.  XIII      COLLECTIVISM,  DEMOCRACY,  EQUALITY  169 

ing  part  of  the  living  whole.  When  it  lost  these  neces- 
sary relations  to  the  whole,  it  did  not  survive;  or  at 
most  remained  only  as  a  rudimentary  survival, 

201.  In  Reproduction.— When  the  functions  of  re- 
production were  specialized  and  Collectivism  between 
parents  could  alone  perpetuate  the  species,  the  indi- 
vidual was  still  preserved.    Each  new  life  was  a  real 
part  of  the  real  life  of  the  species;  that  is,  each  new  life 
must  be  fully  equipped  with  its  own  complete  organ- 
ism, independent  from  all  other  life  as  an  individual 
and  able  to  co-operate  with  other  individuals  like  itself, 
else  it  could  not  survive;  that  is,  it  could  not  be  a  link 
in  the  surviving  chain. 

202.  Unanimous   Agreement.— When   Collectivism 
had  produced  the  tribes,  they  were  collections  of  in- 
dividuals, not  the  full  grown  individuals  of  the  future, 
but  real  individuals  none  the  less.    Each  had  his  share 


hatred  and  pitiless  struggle  which  came,  adorned  with  the  attri- 
butes of  science,  from  obliging  philosophers  and  sociologists,  could 
weed  out  the  feeling  of  human  solidarity  deeply  lodged  in  men's 
understanding  and  heart,  because  it  has  been  nurtured  by  all  pre- 
ceding evolution.  What  was  the  outcome  of  evolution  since  its 
earliest  stages  cannot  be  overpowered  by  one  of  the  aspects  of  that 
same  evolution.  And  the  need  of  mutual  aid  and  support  which  had 
lately  taken  refuge  in  the  narrow  circle  of  the  family,  or  the  slum 
neighbors,  in  the  village,  or  the  secret  union  of  workers,  reasserts  it- 
self again,  even  in  our  modern  society,  and  claims  its  rights  to  be, 
as  it  always  has  been,  the  chief  leader  towards  further  progress. 
*  *  *  In  the  animal  world  we  have  seen  that  the  vast  majority  of 
species  live  in  societies,  and  that  they  find  in  association  the  best 
arms  for  the  struggle  for  life;  understood,  of  course,  in  its  wide 
Darwinian  sense — not  as  a  struggle  for  the  sheer  means  of  existence, 
but  as  a  struggle  against  all  natural  conditions  unfavorable  to  the 
species.  The  animal  species,  in  which  individual  struggle  has  been 
reduced  to  its  narrowest  limits,  and  the  practice  of  mutual  aid  has 
attained  the  greatest  development,  are-  invariably  the  most  numer- 
ous, the  most  prosperous,  and  the  most  open  for  further  progress. 
The  mutual  protection  which  is  obtained  in  this  cage,  the  possibility 
of  attaining  old  age  and  accumulating  experience,  the  higher  intel- 
lectual development,  and  the  further  growth  of  sociable  habits,  secure 
the  maintenance  of  the  species,  its  extension,  and  its  further  pro- 
gressive evolution.  The  unsociable  species,  on  the  contrary,  are 
doomed  to  decay." — Kropotkin;  Mutual  Aid — A  Factor  of  Evolution, 
pp.  30-31,  5T**59,  292, 


170  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PAKT  III 

in  the  ruling  of  the  tribe,  as  well  as  his  share  in  its  de- 
fense. In  fact,  for  a  thousand  centuries  the  early 
groups  were  controlled  by  unanimous  agreement,  not 
even  by  a  majority  vote.  The  modern  jury  trial  and 
its  requirement  of  unanimous  agreement  is  a  barbarian 
survival  still  telling  the  story  of  both  the  fact  and 
the  form  of  the  oldest  Democracies. 

203.  Democratic  Armies.— When  the  victorious 
tribes  became  the  masters  of  the  world  and  so  es- 
tablished the  nations  of  antiquity,  they  long  retained 
their  earlier  Democracies  at  home.  Their  Collectivism 
finally  perished  when  the  Democracies  within  had  been 
utterly  destroyed.  The  soldier  who  knew  he  was  fight- 
ing for  his  rations  only  has  never  been  able  to  with- 
stand the  soldier  who  believed  he  was  fighting  for  him- 
self, or  for  a  country  whose  interests  he  had  been  able 
to  so  identify  with  his  own  that  he  would  give  to  the 
uttermost  his  life  for  its  cause.  The  soldiers  of  the 
American  Eevolution  and  of  the  Second  War  with 
England  and  the  Boers  in  the  recent  African  War  are 
illustrations  of  this  truth.  Napoleon's  soldiers  had 
been  made  unconquerable  in  their  war  for  the  liberty 
of  France,  before  they  became,  under  his  command,  the 
conquerors  of  Europe.  In  this  connection  it  is  a  sig- 
nificant fact  that  as  the  nations  of  antiquity  succeeded 
each  other  as  world  powers,  the  old  and  failing  power 
was  always  the  one  farthest  from  barbarism,  and  hence 
farthest  from  primitive  democratic  Collectivism,  while 
the  conquering  new  power  was  always  the  one  nearest 
to  barbarism,  and  hence,  preserved  in  its  own  life  more 
of  the  primitive  democratic  Collectivism.  It  was  said 
of  Xenophon's  army  that  any  man  of  his  famous  Ten 
Thousand  was  qualified  to  take  command.  No  wonder 
they  could  cut  their  way  through  the  ranks  of  the 
countless  Persian  soldiers  among  whom  long  cen- 
turies of  absolutism  had  destroyed  self-possession,  and 


CHAP.  XIII      COLLECTIVISM,  DEMOCRACY,  EQUALITY  171 

hence,  the  power  of  initiative  and  of  self-direction. 
The  vigorous  democratic  Collectivism  of  the  ten  thou- 
sand Greeks  was  too  powerful  for  the  helpless  victims 
of  the  tyranny  and  monopoly  of  the  despotic  East.  At  * 
Syracuse,  two  hundred  years  later,  the  relation  was 
reversed.  Monopoly,  tyranny  and  inequality  were  then 
the  heritage  of  the  Greeks,  the  fruits  of  Alexandrian 
militarism.  The  victorious  Romans  were  still  the  sol- 
diers of  the  Republic— boasting  that  "  To  be  a  Roman 
was  to  be  greater  than  a  king. ' ' 

204.  Collectivism    and    Democracy.— Collectivism 
without  Democracy  is  not  Socialism.    Democracy  with- 
out Collectivism  is  not   Socialism.    Democratic   Col- 
lectivism is  inherent  in  the  nature  of  things.    Both  Col- 
lectivism and  Democracy  are  fundamental  factors  in 
the  construction  of  the  proposals    of    the  Socialists. 
There  is  no  whole,  composed  of  parts,  which  is  able 
to  stand  in  the  struggle  for  existence  unless  the  whole- 
ness of  each  part  is  complete  in  its  place  and  in  the 
performance  of  its  own  special  functions. 

This,  then,  is  the  general  scientific  truth,  that,  in  the 
struggle  for  existence,  other  things  being  equal,  that  \ 
Collectivism  is  most  effective  within  which  Democracy 
is  most  complete. 

205.  Equality.— The  same  is  true  of  Equality.      It 
too  is  inherent  in  the  nature  of  things.     In  no  com- 
plex organism  are  all  the  organs  alike.     In  all  such 
organisms,  each  organ  is  equally  a  part  of  the  whole, 
and  no  one  of  them  may  say  to  another,  "I  have  no 
need  of  thee. ' '    All  are  essential,  all  are  fed  by  the  same 
processes,  all  perform  some  certain  task,  or  when  any 
one  shall  fail  in  this,  or  new  conditions  no  longer  need 
its  service,  then  the  useless  organ  is  ruthlessly  elim- 
inated.   Only  in  the  social  organism  and  under  a  vio- 
lation of  natural  and  necessary  relations  of  healthful 


172  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

existence  is  an  essential  organ  starved  and  a  parasite 
fed  at  its  expense. 

206.  Primitive  Equality.— Equality  was  as  much  a 
•share  of  the  primitive  life  of  the  race  as  was  Collect- 
ivism or  Democracy.      There  were  no  disfranchised 
clansmen.     There  were  no  three  votes  for  men  with 
feathers  in  their  hair,  and  only  one  or  none  at  all  for 
others  ' 'horn  in  the  same  house. ' '    The  primitive  Dem- 
ocracy, which  required  the  approval  of  all  before  any 
should  act,in  any  matter  which  was  the  concern  of  all, 
was  the  recognition  of  the  equality  of  the  clansmen  be- 
yond all  question.    The  modern  jury,  which  is  a  sur- 
vival of  the^ancient  barbarian  group,  settling  matters  of 
dispute  among  them,  requires  still  the  approval— not 
the  consent  only— of  all  and  of  all  alike.    Here  is  Col- 
lectivism, Democracy  and  Equality;  and  here,  again,  is 
the  general  scientific  truth,  that,  in  the  struggle  for  ex- 
istence, other  things  being  equal,  that  democratic  Col- 
lectivism is  most  likely  to  survive  within  which  the 
equality  of  every  essential  part  of  the  organism  is  most 
complete.9 

207.  The  Just  Powers  of  Government.— "All  gov- 
ernments derive  their  just  powers, "  not  from  the  con- 
quest of  those  who  are  governed  by  those  who  govern, 
nor  from  the  "consent  of  the  governed/'  obtained  in 
any  way  whatsoever,  by  those  who  govern.    "All  gov- 
ernments derive  their  just  powers"  from   the    equal 
participation  in  the  constant  administration  of  the  com- 
mon interests  of  all,  by  all  those  whose  interests  are  so 
administered.    Whatever  is  more  than  this  is  the  usur- 

9.  "The  use  of  intelligence  for  the  private  manipulation  of  so- 
cial agencies  does  actually  represent  a  level  of  social  institutional 
life;  and  in  certain  great  departments  of  human  intercourse — as  espe- 
cially the  commercial — relatively  selfish  ends,  as  seen  in  personal 
competitions  of  wits,  seem  to  be  the  highest  society  has  yet  attained. 
But  as  with  individual  growth,  so  here.  As  soon  as  the  personal 
use  of  the  individual's  wit  brings  him  into  conflict  with  either  of 


CHAP.  XIII      COLLECTIVISM,  DEMOCRACY,  EQUALITY  173 

pation  of  power  and  the  practice  of  tyranny.  What- 
ever is  less  than  this  is,  to  that  extent,  the  failure  of  the 
organism  "to  function"  as  an  organism. 

208.  The  Concern  of  All.— Collectivism,  Democracy 
and  Equality,  these  priciples  take  their  roots  in  the  ani- 
mal kingdom,  in  the  simplest  forms  of  life.    They  are 
older  than  the  race.    No  perfect  social  life  is  possible 
without  them.    It  will  be  interesting  to  follow  the  story 
of  the  struggle  for  existence  and  notice  how  these  prin- 
ciples in  social  life  have  grown  in  power  and  how  the 
economic  and  social  forces  are  making  them  the  com- 
ing final,  lasting  masters  of  all  life,  and  so  finally  to  dis- 
place, for  all  time,  the  monopoly,  tyranny  and  inequal- 
ity of  capitalism,  while  they  will  enfranchise  for  all 
time  all  of  the  people  in  all  matters  which  are  the  con- 
cern of  all. 

209.  Summary.— 1.    Collectivism,  Democracy  and 
Equality  are  the  principles  which  underlie   the   pro- 
posals of  the  Socialists. 

2.     To  study  the  origin  and  development  of  these 


the  two  necessary  movements  by  which  society  gradually  grows — or 
with  the  institutions  which  represent  them — so  soon  must  the  indi- 
vidual be  restrained.  And,  further,  the  restraint  is  no  more  an  arti- 
ficial thing,  an  external  thing  in  society,  than  it  is  in  the  individual." 
— Professor  Baldwin:  Social  and  Ethical  Interpretations,  pp.  542-43. 

"Human  society  is  rapidly  moving  toward  a  state  of  equality 
very  similar  in  all  esesentials  to  that  which  is  advocated  by  Socialist 
philosophers  as  the  ideal  of  a  genuinely  Christian  life.  The  forces 
drawing  the  human  race  to  this  remarkable  end  are  the  very  same 
forces  by  which  human  history  has  been  thus  far  wrought  out.  They 
are  the  same  forces  described  by  Darwin  in  his  law  of  natural  selec- 
tion. 

"Accompanying  this  drift  to  economical  equality  will  be  found 
several  facts  of  the  highest  importance  in  the  social  evolution  of 
man. 

"The  brain  of  civilized  woman  is  iscreasing  in  weight.  Her  in- 
tellect is  rapidly  developing  a  new  and  extraordinary  capacity,  and 
the  ultimate  end  of  this  progress  in  woman  will  be  a  social  state  in 
which  men  and  women  will  be  intellectually  equal,  or  nearly  so. 

"The  human  population  of  the  earth  is  moving  with  accelerat- 
ing force  toward  a  mean,  or  normal,  number  which,  when  once 
reached,  can  never  again  be  disturbed." — Lane:  The  Level  of  Social 
Motion,  Preface  VI. 


174  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

principles  in  the  world's  life  is  to  study  the  evolution 
of  Socialism. 

3.  Collectivism  exists  in  the  simplest  forms  of  life, 
and  is  the  essential  thing,  in  the  struggle  for  existence, 
in  all  forms  of  organization.    The  families,  the  tribes, 
the  nations  and  all  business  organizations  are  neces- 
sarily collective. 

4.  Democracy  exists  in  the  simplest  forms  of  life. 
It  was  the  most  striking  characteristic  of  primitive 
society. 

5.  Democracy  within  any  Collectivism  is  essential 
to  the  collective  strength. 

6.  Equality  as  the  basis  of  the  Democracy  within 
any  Collectivism  is  equally  essential  to  the  collective 
strength. 

REVIEW   QUESTIONS. 

1.  Why  are  not  the  individual  capitalists  considered  in  the  study 
of  capitalism? 

2.  Why  are  not  the  individual  Socialists  considered  in  the  study 
of  Socialism? 

3.  What  are  the  principles  which  underlie  the  proposals  of  the 
Socialists  ? 

4.  Trace   Collectivism   in  the   simplest   forms   of  life.      In   prim- 
itive life.     In  the  nations.     In  business. 

5.  Trace  Democracy  in  the  same  way. 

6.  Trace  Equality  in  the  same  way. 

7.  What   is   the   general    scientific   truth    concerning   Collectivism 
as  related  to  the  struggle  for  existence? 

8.  What    is    the    general    scientific    truth    concerning    Democracy 
as  related  to  the  struggle  for  existence? 

9.  What   is   the   general   scientific   truth    concerning   equality   as 
as  related  to  the  struggle  for  existence? 


CHAPTEE  XIV 

COLLECTIVISM,    DEMOCRACY   AND   EQUALITY    (CONTINUED) 

213.  Things  in  Common.— It  is  said  that  nowhere 
in  the  world,  nor  at  any  time  in  history,  have  men 
been  found  entirely  separated  from  each  other  and  in 
no  way  depending  on  any  kind  or  degree  of  Collectiv- 
ism as  a  factor  in  the  struggle  for  existence. 

Among  savages,  we  find  the  early  groups,  with  the 
common  fire,  the  common  camp,  the  common  fishing 
and  hunting  grounds,  and  the  common  defense,  all  ad- 
ministered by  common  voice  of  all  and  all  clansmen 
having  equal  responsibility,  each  for  his  share  as  a 
worker  or  as  a  defender,  and  each  enjoying  his  equal 
rights  in  the  common  benefits  of  all  enterprises  car- 
ried on  in  common,— these  things  were  characteristic 
of  all  savages,  of  all  races  and  in  all  lands. 

214.  Village  Communities.— Under  barbarism  these 
same  common  interests  and  equal  voice  in  the  control 
of  common  interests  survived.      At  the  time  of   the 
passage  from  barbarism    to    civilization,  the    village 
community  had  everywhere  appeared.1    In  these  vil- 
lage communities  the  common  land,  the  common  herds, 

1.     Kropotkin:     Mutual  Aid,  pp.  120-135. 
175 


176  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

the  common  pasturage,  the  village  stores,  the  long 
houses,  democratic  control  and  equal  opportunity  were 
all,  and  invariably,  characteristics  of  that  stage  of  ad- 
vance of  the  growing  life  of  all  races  and  in  all  lands. 

215.  Slave    Associations.— When   barbarian    wars 
made  slaves  of  the  captured  tribes  and  the  victorious 
tribes  grew  into  despotic  military  organizations,  the 
slaves  perpetuated  their  Collectivism,  Democracy  and 
Equality  so  far  as  secret,  voluntary  associations  among 
slaves  could  accomplish  that  result. 

216.  Ancient    Trades    Unions.— When    militarism 
within  the  victorious  tribes  began  to  crowd  the  original 
holders  from  their  small  primitive  allotments  of  land 
and  they  became  free  laborers,  the  old  barbarian  Col- 
lectivism, Democracy  and  Equality  created  the  ancient 
labor  unions,  which  J.  Osborne  Ward  has  so  carefully 
studied  and  has  found  to  have  existed  in  all  the  ancient 
countries,  and  which  cared  for  the  sick,  buried  their 
dead,  and  defended,  by  common  action,  both  in  great 
strikes,  and  finally  in  the  Eoman  elections,  their  in- 
terests as  workingmen.    He  contends  that  Jesus  was 
a  member  and  the  chief  official  of  a  labor  union ;  Luke, 
the  chief  official  of  an  international  organization  of 
physicians ;  and  that  when  the  disciples  of  Jesus  were 
directed  to  go  out  in  twos  and  to  "take  neither  coat 
nor  script, "  they  were  observing  the  universal  cus- 
tom of  the  old  "walking  delegates "  and  organizers- 
called  '  evangelists  "—who  always    depended    on   the 
local  unions  of  the  workers  for  their  entertainment,2 
and  further,  that  the  relief  secured  by  Paul  from  the 
brothers  in  Asia  for  the  help  of  the  brothers  in  Jeru- 
salem was  in  the  regular  order  of  the  mutual  aid  prac- 
ticed among  those  ancient  labor  organizations. 

217.  The  Early  Church.— These  ancient  slave  asso- 

2.     J.  Osborne  Ward:     Ancient  Lowly,  Vol.   II,   Chapter   IX 


CIIAP.  XIII      COLLECTIVISM,  DEMOCRACY,  EQUALITY  177 

ciations  and  these  ancient  labor  unions  had  no  small 
share  in  hastening  the  early  triumphs  of  the  Christian 
religion,  which  found,  through  its  championship  of 
the  welfare  of  the  poor  and  through  these  world-wide 
secret  organizations,  the  opportunity  for  its  own 
secret  propaganda.  By  means  of  these  organizations, 
Collectivism,  Democracy  and  Equality  were  struggling 
for  existence  in  the  face  of  monopoly,  tyranny  and  in- 
equality of  opportunity  which  militarism  had  made 
the  masters  of  the  ancient  world. 

218.  The  Free  Cities.— When  the  military  power  of 
Eome  no  longer  held  together  and  protected  the  net- 
work of  cities  which  made  up  the  Roman  world,  and 
these  cities  attempted  their  own  reorganization,  sup- 
port and  defense,  and  grew  into  the  free  cities  of 
Southern  Europe,  Collectivism,  Democracy  and  Equal- 
ity immediately  reappeared  among  them.  When  the 
barbarian  village  communities  of  Northern  Europe, 
which  were  able  to  resist  the  destructive  militarism, 
which  built  the  institutions  of  feudalism  on  the  ruins 
of  most  such  villages,  and  so  were  able  to  preserve 
their  liberty,  and  to  grow  into  the  industrial,  self-sup- 
porting and  self-defending  free  cities  of  Northern 
Europe,  here,  again,  Collectivism,  Democracy  and 
Equality,  inherited  directly  from  barbarism  in  the 
North,  and  inherited  indirectly  through  the  ancient 
slave  associations  and  trade  unions  in  the  South, 
created  the  mediaeval  guilds. 

The  members  of  these  guilds  worshiped  and  feasted 
together.  They  built  and  defended  their  cities  togeth- 
er. They  cared  for  their  sick,  buried  their  dead,  taught 
trades  to  their  young ;  cared  for  the  aged,  the  orphaned 
and  the  widowed.  They  improved  and  perfected  the 
trades.  They  built  the  cathedrals.  They  established 
commerce.  But,  when  the  collapse  of  feudalism  filled 
their  streets  with  the  runaway  or  the  evicted  serfs  they 


178  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

denied  to  the  serfs  the  equality  of  opportunity  which 
they  had  achieved  for  themselves ;  they  excluded  them 
from  the  privileges  of  their  democratic  Collectivism 
and  so  built  in  their  midst  a  hateful  class  war,— the 
necessary  result  of  the  monopoly,  tyranny  and  inequal- 
ity which  the  new  conditions  had  brought  upon  them, 
—and  so  laid  with  their  own  hands  the  foundations  of 
the  rebellious  forces,  which,  intriguing  with  tKe  royal 
authorities,  helped  in  the  final  overthrow  of  their  mu- 
nicipal greatness. 

219.  Fraternal  Societies.— The  fraternal  societies 
are  survivals  of  these  ancient  industrial  Democracies. 
Free  Masons  were  once  real  masons,  without  being 
either  serfs  or  slaves.  Once  the  apron  and  the  trowel, 
the  compass  and  the  square  were  not  ceremonial  af- 
fairs with  this  ancient  organization.  The  duties  of 
the  Grand  Master  were  not  social  only,  nor  were  the 
functions  of  the  order  mainly  a  matter  of  entertain- 
ment.3 It  was  a  secret  organization  because  all  in- 
dustrial organizations  were  forbidden  and  it  had  to  be 
secret  or  not  at  all.  Through  all  these  fraternities  run 
the  ideas  of  Collectivism,  of  common  interests,  of  com- 
mon responsibilities,  of  common  benefits,  together  with 
democratic  management  and  equal  rights  for  all  the 
members  of  these  brotherhoods.  So  far  as  they  have 
fallen,  in  modern  times,  under  the  control  of  royalists 
and  have  become  the  instruments  of  oppression,  they 
are  illustrations  of  the  capture  by  the  exploiters  of  the 
organizations  created  by  the  laborers,  and  because  so 
captured  by  the  exploiters,  used  to  oppress  the  very 
class  whose  collective  efforts,  because  of  collective  in- 
terests, made  their  existence  possible.  The  very  name 
fraternity  is  from  the  ancient  barbarian  "phratry"— 
a  combination  of  gentes  effecting  a  wider  brotherhood 
than  the  earlier  gens  and  preceding,  as  well  as  lead- 

3.    J.  Osborne  Ward:     Ancient  Lowly,  Vol.  I,  p.   124. 


CHAP.  XIII      COLLECTIVISM,  DEMOCRACY,  EQUALITY  179 

ing  to,  the  organization  of  the  tribes  under  barbarism. 
That  the  oldest  fraternities  are  very  old  may  well  be 
granted.  There  is  equal  reason  to  hold  that  they  are 
direct  barbarian  survivals,  having  existed  in  some 
form,  and  striving  as  best  they  could  to  preserve  the 
Collectivism,  Democracy  and  Equality  of  barbarism, 
through  the  long  centuries  of  monopoly,  tyranny  and 
inequality  of  captitalistic  civilization. 

220.  Modern  Labor  Unions.— The  same  is  true  of 
modern  labor  unions. 

When  the  evicted  and  runaway  serfs  became  so 
numerous  in  the  rising  factory  towns  and  competed 
so  desperately  against  each  other  for  the  opportunity 
to  be  employed,  that  the  ownership  of  working  people, 
or  the  feudal  settlement  of  workers  in  any  particular 
place  was  abandoned  because  unprofitable,  then  these 
working  wage-slaves,— slaves  without  either  the  mas- 
ters or  the  rations  which  slavery  provided,— attempted, 
by  organization,  to  provide  for  themselves,  and  then, 
immediately,  Collectivism,  Democracy  and  Equality  re- 
appeared in  these  efforts  to  organize  the  workers.  The 
organizations  were  forbidden.  To  organize  the  work- 
ers was  held  to  be  treason  to  the  state.  The  early 
unions  were  secret,  not  because  they  wished  to  be,  but 
because  they  could  exist  in  no  other  way.  For  four 
centuries  they  fought  for  the  right  to  be.  What  they 
were  fighting  for  was  Collectivism,  Democracy  and 
Equality  within  their  organizations.  Whatever  vic- 
tories they  have  won  have  been  victories  for  these  prin- 
ciples. When  they  have  monopolized  a  trade  or  ex- 
cluded a  worker,  it  has  not  been  for  the  sake  of  the 
monopoly,  but  because  they  have  been  unable  to  bring 
all  the  workers  to  the  wider  and  wiser  view.  In  the  na- 
ture of  the  case  it  was  Collectivism,  Democracy  and 
Equality  for  those  willing  to  join  in  the  struggle,  or  for 
none  at  all. 


180  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

221.  Working  Class  Solidarity.— As  the  growth  of 
industry  has  advanced;  as  the  sharp  lines  of  the  trades 
have  been  broken  down  through  the  introduction  of 
machinery;  as  the  importance  and  power  of  the  un- 
skilled workers  have  grown,  the  labor  unions  are  daily 
recognizing  more  and  more  that  the  deliverance  must 
be  for  all  workers,  or  for  none  at  all.    The  efforts  of 
all  the  unions  to  develop  the  solidarity  of  the  working 
class;  the  contention  of  the  Socialists  that  the  class- 
conscious  worker  only  will  be  able  to  fight  effectively 
the  battles  of  the  working  class  are  not  suggestions 
contrary  to  the  inherent,  natural  and  necessary  rela- 
tions of  the  workers  to  each  other  and  to  the  future  of 
the  whole  race.    They  are  simply  true  and  instinctive 
expressions  of  relations  which  it  is  as  impossible  to 
conceive  of  as  not  existing,  under  capitalism,  as  it  is 
to  think  of  a  square  circle  or  a  four-cornered  triangle. 

222.  Monopoly.— Capitalism  is  the  Collectivism  of 
a  part  to  monopolize  the  just  inheritance  of  all.4    There 
is  no  possible  way  by  which  this  monopoly  can  be 
destroyed  except  the  Collectivism  of  all  be  made  to 
take  the  place  of  the  Collectivism  of  a  part.    This  is 
not  true  because  any  one  has  said  it  is  true.    This  is 
true  because  it  is  true,  because,  if  some  part  is  not  to 
control,  then  the  whole  must.    New  mathematical  re- 
lations must  be  put  into  the  nature  of  things  or  this 
must  be  true  and  remain  true.5 

4.  "Before   economic   competition   had   divided   men   into   classes 
according    to    their    financial    capacity,    all    craftsmen    possessed    cap- 
ital   as    all    agriculturists    held    land.      The     guild     established     the 
craftsman's    social    status;    as    a    member   of    a   trade    corporation   he 
was   governed   by   regulations   fixing  the   number   of  hands   he   might 
employ,   the  amount  of  goods  he  might  produce,   and  the  quality  of 
his  workmanship;  on  the  other  hand  the  guild  regulated  the  market, 
and  insured  a  demand.    Tradesmen,  perhaps,  did  not  easily  grow  rich, 
but  they  as  seldom  became  poor. 

"With  centralization,  life  changed.  Competition  sifted  the  strong 
from  the  weak;  the  former  waxed  wealthy,  and  hired  hands  at 
wages,  the  latter  lost  all  but  the  ability  to  labor;  and  when  the 
corporate  body  of  producers  had  thus  disintegrated,  nothing  stood  be- 
tween the  common  property  and  the  men  who  controlled  the  engine  of 
the  law." — Adams:  Law  of  Civilization  and  Decay,  pp.  259-60. 

5.  "The  persistence  of  Trade  Unionism,  and  its  growing  power 


CHAP.  X III      COLLECTIVISM,  DEMOCRACY,  EQUALITY  181 

223.  The  Whole  Is  Greater  Than  Any  of  Its  Parts.  - 
Industrial  change  must  be  to  dethrone  one  part  in 
order  to  enthrone  another  part,  or  it  must  be  to  de- 
throne no  part,  but  instead  to  enthrone  all  parts,  and 
hence  the  whole.  Every  departure  from  monopoly 
must  be  towards  Collectivism.  Every  departure  from 
tyranny  must  be  towards  Democracy.  Every  depar- 
ture from  inequality  must  be  toward  Equality,  or  the 
reverse.6  Every  departure  from  Collectivism,  Democ- 
racy and  Equality  must  be  towards  monopoly,  tyranny 
and  inequality.  The  great  principles  which  underlie 
the  proposals  of  the  Socialists  are  Collectivism,  Democ- 
racy and  Equality.  These  principles  were  not  invent- 
ed. They  are  not  ingenious  schemes  suggested  by  some 

in  the  state,  indicates,  to  begin  with,  that  the  very  conception  of 
democracy  will  have  to  be  widened,  so  as  to  include  economic  as 
well  as  political  relations.  The  framers  of  the  United  States  con- 
stitution, like  the  various  parties  in  the  French  Revolution  of  1789, 
saw  no  resemblance  or  analogy  between  the  personal  power  which 
they  drove  from  the  castle,  the  altar,  and  the  throne,  and  that  which 
they  left  unchecked  in  the  farm,  the  factory,  and  the  mine.  Even 
at  the  present  day,  after  a  century  of  revolution,  the  great  mass"  of 
middle  and  upper-class  'Liberals'  all  over  the  world  see  no  more 
inconsistency  between  democracy  and  unrestrained  capitalist  enter- 
prise than  Washington  or  Jefferson  did  between  democracy  and  slave- 
holding.  The  'dim  inarticulate  multitude'  of  manual-working  wage- 
earners  have,  from  the  outset,  felt  their  way  to  a  different  view. 
To  them,  the  uncontrolled  power  wielded  by  the  owners  of  pro- 
duction, able  to  withhold  from  the  manual-worker  all  chance  of  sub- 
sistence unless  he  accepted  their  terms,  meant  a  far  more  genuine 
loss  of  liberty  and  a  far  keener  sense  of  the  personal  subjection 
than  the  official  jurisdiction  of  the  magistrate  or  the  far-off,  im- 
palpable rule  of  the  king.  The  captains  of  industry,  like  the  kings 
of  gore,  are  honestly  unable  to  understand  why  their  personal  power 
should  be  interfered  with,  and  kings  and  captains  alike  have  never 
found  any  difficulty  in  demonstrating  that  its  maintenance  was  in- 
dispensable to  society.  Against  this  autocracy  in  industry  the  manual- 
workers  have,  during  the  century,  increasingly  made  good  their 
protest." — Webb:  Industrial  Democracy,  Vol.  II,  pp.  840-41. 

6.  "Wealth  owes  its  advantages  in  production  largely  to  fore- 
cast, combination  and  tacit  concert.  Nothing  can  be  more  unreason- 
able than  to  resent  the  same  tendency  in  the  working  classes,  and 
that  because  it  takes  them,  as  mere  waifs,  out  of  the  stream  of 
traffic.  These  combinations  (of  labor)  are  not  to  be  judged  by 
their  earlier  efforts,  or  by  their  mistakes  alone,  but  by  their  di- 
rection of  growth  and  the  spirit  called  out  by  them.  It  is  one  of 
the  highest  achievements  of  our  time  that  workmen  are  learning  to 
think,  combine,  resist,  aid." — Bascom:  Sociology,  p.  230. 


182  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

dreamer  of  dreams.  They  are  simply  the  conditions  of 
healthful,  normal,  progressive  existence  inherent  in 
the  unavoidable  relations  of  human  life.  These  princi- 
ples cannot  prevail  in  the  whole  life  of  man  while 
monopoly,  tyranny  and  inequality  of  opportunity  re- 
main in  the  workshop  and  in  the  market  place. 

224.— Sanitary  Conditions.— The  fight  for  Socialism 
is  simply  a  fight  for  sanitary  social  conditions.7  The 
fight  for  capitalism  is  a  fight  for  unsanitary  social  con- 
ditions,—conditions  which  mean  death  to  the  simplest 
organisms,  conditions  which,  should  they  supplant  Col- 
lectivism in  nature,  all  life  must  cease;  conditions 
which,  had  they  prevailed  in  primitive  society,  the  ear- 
ly man  must  have  fallen  the  helpless  prey  of  beasts 
too  fierce  for  his  single-handed  resistance;  conditions 
which,  had  they  prevailed  among  barbarians,  the  tribes 
and  nations  never  could  have  been;  conditions  which, 
whenever  they  have  prevailed,  have  enslaved  the  many 
and  made  degenerates  of  the  few.8  Capitalism  is  a 
temporary  departure  from  a  general  condition  of  san- 
itary social  life,  with  the  final  result  that  in  its  cul- 
mination, sanitary  conditions  may  be  re-established  in 

7.  "The    individual    will    always    make   himself    felt.      This    cor- 
responds  probably  to   reality,    for   with   social    self-consciousness,   not 
only  does  environment  modify   society,  but  society   modifies   environ- 
ment with  a  set  purpose  in  view." — Mayo-Smith:     Statistics  and  So- 
ciology, p.  382. 

8.  "It   is   beyond   question   that   the   progress   of   mankind   does 
depend  upon  the   progressive   conformity   of  the   order   of  their   con- 
ceptions   to    the    order    of    phenomena;    but    after    the    inquiry    con- 
tained  in   the   preceding   chapter    I   believe   no    further   proof   is   nec- 
essary  to    convince    us    that    the    progress    of    mankind    also    depends 
upon    the    conformity    of    their    desires    to    the    requirements    arising 
from  their   aggregation   in  communities.     If   civilization   is   a  process 
of  intellectual   adaptation,  it  is  also  a  process  of  moral   adaptation; 
and    the    latter    I    believe  to    be  the  more  fundamental   of  the  two. 
The   case   is  well   stated   by  Mr.    Spencer   in  the   following  passage: 
'Ideas   do  not   govern  the  world;    the  world   is  governed   by  feelings, 
to   which   ideas   serve   only    as    guides.      The   social    mechanism    does 
not   rest   finally    upon   opinions;    but    almost   wholly   upon    character. 

All  social  phenomena  are  produced  by  the  totality  of  human 
emotions  and  beliefs;  of  which  the  emotions  are  mainly  pre-deter- 
mined,  while  the  beliefs  are  mainly  post-determined.  Men's  desires 


CHAP.  XIII      COLLECTIVISM,  DEMOCRACY,  EQUALITY  183 

a  wider  field  than  ever  before,— either  that,  or  capital- 
ism is  a  social  disorder,  a  baneful  disease,  a  loathsome 
contagion,  slaying  its  millions  but  rendering  no  serv- 
ice in  the  long  progress  of  the  race.  In  either  case,  if 
it  is  a  disease,  it  has  run  its  course;  a  return  to  nor- 
mal conditions  means  the  coming  of  Socialism;  if  it 
is  a  temporary  departure  with  the  result  of  ultimately 
creating  conditions  wherein  Collectivism,  Democracy 
and  Equality  will  come  again  and  more  fully  than 
ever  before,  then  it  has  accomplished  its  mission  and 
should  now  give  place  in  order  that  its  own  harvest 
may  be  gathered.9 

225.  Conclusions.— In  seeking  the  origin  of  Social- 
ism, the  fundamental  principles,  Collectivism,  Democ- 
racy and  Equality,  which  underlie  the  Socialist  pro- 
posals, are  found  to  be  inherent  in  the  life  of  man. 
They  condition  his  healthful  existence.     They  equip 
him  for  the  struggle  for  existence.    They  are  infinitely 
older  than  the  monopoly,  tyranny  and  inequality  of 
capitalism.    These  principles  once  obeyed  will  establish 
correct  sanitary  social  conditions. 

226.  Summary.— 1.    Collectivism,  Democracy  and 
Equality  are  found  to  have  existed  among  the  bar- 
barian tribes. 

2.  They  survived  through  voluntary  associations 
among  the  slaves  after  they  had  been  abandoned  by, 
the  masters. 


are  chiefly  inherited  but  their  beliefs  are  chiefly  acquired,  and  de- 
pend upon  surrounding  conditions;  and  the  most  important  sur- 
rounding conditions  depend  upon  the  social  state  which  the  prevalent 
desires  have  produced.  The  social  state  at  any  time  existing  is  the 
resultant  of  all  the  ambitions,  self-interest,  fears,  reverences,  indig- 
nations, sympathies,  etc.,  of  ancestral  citizens  and  existing  citizens." 
— Fiske:  Outlines  of  Cosmic  Philosophy,  Vol.  II,  p.  242. 

9.  "Even  if  we  regard  the  socialistic  views  as  erroneous  and 
'demoralizing,  the  fact  remains  that  they  are  held  to  a  greater  or 
less  extent  by  a  large  number  of  people — perhaps  a  majority  of  the 
voters  in  the  U.  S." — President  Hadley  (Yale)  :  Education  of  an 
American  Citizen,  p.  58. 


184  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

3.  They  characterized  the  ancient  trades  unions. 

4.  They  were  characteristic  of  the  early  Christian 
church. 

5.  They  were  features  of  the  early  forms  of  the 
free  cities  of  Europe,  coming  either  directly  from  bar- 
barism in  the  North  or  indirectly  through  the  associa- 
tions of  the  slaves  in  the  South. 

6.  The  oldest  fraternal  societies  are  survivals  of  old 
industrial  Democracies. 

7.  Modern  trades  unions  are  striving  to  establish 
the  same  ideals. 

8.  The  war  of  monopoly,  tyranny  and  inequality 
against  Collectivism,  Democracy  and  Equality,  is  the 
war  between  capitalism  and  Socialism. 

REVIEW   QUESTIONS. 

1.  Carefully   identify   and   discuss   Collectivism,   Democracy   and 
Equality  in  all  of  the  following: — 

( 1 )  Savage  and  barbarian  groups. 

(2)  The  village  communities. 

(3)  The  ancient  slave  association. 

(4)  The  early  Christian  church. 

(5)  The  free  cities. 

(6)  The  guilds. 

(7)  Fraternal  societies. 

(8)  Modern  trades  unions. 

2.  Can  individuals  deliver  themselves  from  the  conditions  of  the 
working  class? 

3.  Why  are  monopoly,  tyranny  and  inequality  unsanitary  social 
conditions  ? 

4.  Whence  the  origin  of  Socialism? 


CHAPTER  XV 

COLLECTIVISM  IN  THE  OWNERSHIP  OF  THE  EARTH 

227.  Belongs  to  Man.— It  is  admitted  that  the  earth 
belongs  to  man.    No  other  animal  is  able  to  dispute  his 
claim.    But  most  men  live  and  die  with  no  legal  claim 
to  the  earth  or  to  any  share  of  it.    Does  the  earth  be- 
long to  all  men  or  to  only  a  part  of  them?    Does  Col- 
lectivism or  monopoly  justly  claim  the  right  to  rule  in 
the  matter  of  the  ownership  of  the  earth? 

228.  Belongs  to  All  Men.— There  is  no  possible  the- 
ory of  the  earth's  origin  which  does  not  argue  for  Col- 
lectivism and  against  monopoly,  in  favor  of  ownership 
by  all  and  not  by  any  part. 

229.  The  Biblical  Authority.— If  it  is  claimed  that 
the  Biblical  story  of  creation  is  a  literal,  detailed  state- 
ment of  the  earth's  origin,  then  those  who  hold  to 
this  view  are  bound  to  admit  the  force  of  the  declara- 
tions of  the  same  authority  concerning  the  use  of  the 
earth.    God  said,  "Let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  after 
our  likeness;  and  let  them  have  dominion  over  the  fish 
of  the  sea,  and  over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over  the 
cattle,  and  over  all  the  earth,  and  over  every  creeping 
thing  that  creepeth  upon  the    earth." -(Gen.    1:26). 
Only  man  was  exempt  from  the  dominion  of  men. 

185 


186  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

All  men  were  to  have  dominion  alike,  for  "There  is 
no  respect  of  persons  with  God."  -(2  Chr.  19:7;  Bom. 
2:11;  Eph.  6:9;  Col.  3:25).  And  lest  any  should  be- 
come the  masters  of  others  He  declared  "The  land 
shall  not  be  sold  forever/ '—(Lev.  25:23).  And  when 
His  chosen  people  had  ignored  these  principles  and 
poverty  and  oppression  had  followed,  He  said  again: 
"Woe  unto  them  that  join  house  to  house,  that  lay  field 
to  field,  till  there  be  no  room,  and  ye  be  made  to  dwell 
alone  (without  land)  in  the  midst  of  the  land. "— Is. 
5:8). 

These  passages  settle  forever  for  those  who  hold  to 
these  authorities  the  question  of  ownership  in  favor  of 
all  the  people. 

230.  The  Scientific  Defense.— If  it  is  claimed  that 
the  earth  is  simply  the  product  uf  natural  forces,  that 
is,  that  it  is  the  result  of  the  operation  of  forces  still 
seen  to  be  in  operation,  and  that  all  questions  of  one's 
claims  to  the  earth  must  be  settled  as  the  result  of 
conclusions  drawn  from  a  study  of  the  operation  of 
these  natural  forces,  then  it  is  equally  impossible  to 
find  any  support  for  private  monopoly  in  the  owner- 
ship of  what  nature  has  so  clearly  provided  for  all. 

231.  The  Monopolist  and  Nature.— In  order  to  un- 
derstand how  utterly  absurd  the  monopolist  of  natural 
resources  must  appear  in  contending  for  his  claims,  as 
inherent  in  the  nature  of  things,  listen  to  the  story  of 
the  earth's  origin  as  told  according  to  what  is  called 
the  nebular  hypothesis. 

232.— The  Beginning.— If  you  will  look  up  into  the 
sky  on  any  clear  night  you  will  see  scattered  along 
the  path  of  the  Milky  Way  vast  spaces  of  what  would 
seem  to  be  fields  of  shining  dust.  That  is  what  they  are 
believed  to  be.  Now  the  tendency  of  all  bodies,  no 
matter  how  great  or  small,  is  to  fall  together.  If  you 
will  fill  the  washbowl  in  the  bathroom  and  then  pull 


CHAP.  XV  THE  OWNERSHIP  OF  THE  EARTH  187 

the  plug,  or  if  you  will  take  a  pan  full  of  water  and 
punch  a  hole  through  the  center  of  the  bottom,  you 
will  notice,  as  the  water  starts  toward  the  center  of  the 
bowl  or  pan  that  very  soon,  instead  of  running  straight 
to  the  point,  it  starts  to  run  around  it.  Why  it  does 
this  need  not  be  considered  here  any  more  than  why 
it  should  start  in  the  first  place.  We  observe  that 
things  always  fall  toward  each  other  and  we  call  it  grav- 
ity, but  we  do  not  understand  it  any  better  after  we  have 
given  it  a  name  than  we  did  before.  When  a  comet 
starts  to  fall  towards  the  sun,  instead  of  falling  straight 
to  it,  the  comet  falls  around  it  and  goes  on  its  way  un- 
harmed. It  is  probably  something  of  the  same  sort 
that  happens  in  the  pan  or  the  washbowl,  and  this  is 
the  habit  of  falling  bodies.1 

233.  The  Forming  of  the  Planets.— These  great 
fields  of  star  dust  are  no  exception  to  all  the  rest  and 
they  are  no  sooner  formed  than  the  small  particles  take 
to  falling  towards  each  other  and  so  towards  a  common 
center.  As  they  fall  towards  and  around  each  other, 
great  bodies  are  formed,  and  great  heat  is  created  by 
the  blows  they  give  each  other.  They  fall  both  around 
each  other  and  towards  a  common  center.  Masses  form 
and  crash  into  each  other  #nd  form  again,  and  while 
the  center  becomes  a  great  molten  mass,  the  most  dis- 
tant portions  not  only  move  around  the  center,  but, 
coming  up  from  what  would  constitute  the  poles  of 
these  vast,  moving  masses,  they  form  into  great  rings 
and  go  on  revolving  as  before.  The  rings  of  Saturn 
are  an  illustration  of  this  stage  of  development.  The 
rings  once  formed,  being  more  massive  in  one  place 
than  in  some  other,  form  a  lateral  attraction  so  strong 
that  the  falling  begins  to  follow  the  curved  line  of  the 
ring's  circumference  until  the  ring  grows  into  a  ball. 

1.     Shaler:     Outlines  of  the  Earth's  History,  pp.  33-34. 


188  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

As  the  ring  was  revolving  around  the  center,  so  the  ball 
continues  to  do  so.  In  this  way  the  earth's  motion 
around  the  sun  is  explained.  As  the  substance  which 
composed  the  ball  on  falling  towards  its  own  center 
would  fall  around  it,  as  it  was  falling  into  it,  on  be- 
coming a  ball,  would  continue  to  revolve,  as  the  earth 
does  on  its  own  axis.  As  the  substance  of  such  a  ball 
would  come  towards  its  own  center,  the  rings  would 
be  formed,  and  these,  finally,  would  come  to  be  balls 
and  go  on  revolving  as  the  rings  had  done.  The  moon 
was  so  formed. 

234.  The  Making  of  the  Earth 's  Surface.— The  heat 
evolved  by  such  a  movement  of  worlds  is  beyond  cal- 
culation. Once  at  its  height  the  creation  of  new  heat 
ceases.  Eadiation  continues  and  the  whole  system  be- 
gins to  cool  off.  As  the  planet  cools,  through  the  pas- 
sage of  the  centuries,  water,  which  before  had  existed 
as  gases,  finally  appears,  and  then  the  fire  and  water 
fight  for  the  mastery  and  the  cooling  goes  on  more  rapid- 
ly. The  molten  mass  is  now  cooling  into  fire-fused 
rocks  which  form  the  foundation  of  the  earth.  The 
water,  and  finally  the  frost,  join  hands  to  break  and 
grind  the  surface  of  these  rocks.  The  storms  and  the 
seas  wash  the  smaller  particles  away  to  deposit  them 
elsewhere,  and  through  the  centuries  they  become  the 
water-laid  rocks  of  geologic  time.  As  the  surface  cools, 
the  interior  remains  a  molten  mass.  As  the  interior 
cools  further  and  further  from  the  surface,  the  interior 
must  contract  in  bulk,  leaving  great  earth  crusts  of 
unsupported  surface.  This  surface,  bearing  the  bur- 
den of  half  a  world,  must  contract  in  order  to  find  sup- 
port. In  doing  so  the  surface  sinks  at  one  place,  but 
must  rise  at  some  other,  and  so  the  mountains  are  lifted 
up  and  the  building  of  the  continents  begins.2 

Forms  of  life  appear;  vegetation,  rank  and  bound- 
less, provides  the  substance  for  the  coal  fields,  and 

2.     Shaler:     p.  90. 


CHAP.  XV  THE  OWNERSHIP  OF  THE  EARTH  180 

then  the  continents  shift,  the  water  overflows  and  sifts 
again  the  slow  deposits  of  the  rocks  above  the  fields 
so  overgrown,  and  under  the  pressure  of  the  rocks  and 
the  slow  lapse  of  centuries,  the  coal  is  formed.3  Great 
oceans  of  living  forms,  rich  with  oil,  are  caught  and 
cornered  in  the  world 's  convulsions,  and  the  oil  is 
stored  away  for  the  long  centuries  yet  to  follow.4 

The  water  and  the  frosts  are  reinforced  by  great 
fields  of  ice  in  the  grinding  of  the  rocks  and  in  the  mak- 
ing of  the  soils.  The  earth  is  shaken  by  interior  con- 
vulsions or  the  whole  solar  system  sweeps  into  new 
fields  and  falls  under  the  influence  of  the  gravity  of  new 
stars  and  the  climate  changes.  The  ice  retreats  and 
the  fields,  made  yellow  by  the  grinding  process,  are  in- 
vaded by  a  thousand  forms  of  life.  The  soil  is  covered 
with  vegetation,  the  earth  worms  and  their  less  effect- 
ive helpers  mix  and  turn  the  soil  and  mingle  it  with 
the  decaying  vegetation  and  so  subdue  it  for  a  higher 
use.5 

235.  The  Beginning  and  the  Ending.— At  last  the 
forms  of  life  develop  into  the  forms  of  man.  Through 
the  slow  movements  of  a  thousand  centuries  society 
is  created.  Civilizations  come  and  go.  The  earth 
grows  old.  Hourly  it  is  losing  the  heat  within  itself. 
Hourly  the  sun  supplies  it  less.  In  the  long  movements 
of  the  ages  it  loses  its  heat.  It  seems  to  have  lost  its  life 
and  at  last  completes  its  circular  journey  to  the  sun. 
The  sun  grows  cold  and  old,  and  it  dies  also.  It  loses 
its  power  to  hold  its  place  in  the  heavens,  and,  like  a 
meteor,  falls  headlong  through  the  universe.  This 
and  some  other  system  of  worn-out  worlds  crash  into 
each  other,  and  by  the  stroke  both  are  reduced  into  star 
dust,  to  start  once  more  on  the  endless  round  of  the 
world's  birth,  growth,  death,  and  resurrection.6  Un- 

3.  Thorpe:     Coal,  Its  History  and  Its  Uses,  pp.  1-70. 

4.  Dana:     Manual  of  Geology,  p.  608. 

5.  Darwin :     Earthworms. 

6.  Shaler:     p.  42. 


190  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

der  this  or  any  other  theory  of  the  earth's  origin  ever 
advanced  in  the  name  of  science,  these  movements 
are  so  vast,  the  time  so  approaching  to  eternity,  the 
grip  of  things  so  infinite,  that  to  contend  that  there 
is  any  inherent  intention  on  the  part  of  nature  that 
some  favorites  among  men,  or  some  special  generation 
of  men,  and  not  all  men  of  all  generations,  should  be 
the  beneficiaries  of  all  this,  is  the  highest  of  egotistic 
absurdity. 

236.  Not  a  Question  of  Intentions.— If  it  be  said 
that  to  assume  that  nature  has  any  intentions,  either 
for  the  few  or  for  the  many,  is  equally  absurd,  then 
the  answer  is  that  the  absurdity  complained  of  is  the 
assumption  that  we  may  study  in  nature  some  force 
unknown  to  nature,  and  that  this  force,  unknown  in 
nature,  is  nevertheless  operating  through  nature,  and 
has  intentions  beyond  nature  or  in  contradiction  to  the 
plainly  visible  operations  of  nature.    There  is  here  no 
such  assumption  or  contention.    Our  question,  in  this 
connection,  does  not  go  beyond  an  inquiry  touching 
the  inherent  relations  of  natural  forces  to  each  other 
and  the  relations  so  discovered  between  man  and  the 
earth,  both  of  whom  are  assumed  to  be  the  products 
of  nature  and  existing  subject  to  the  laws  of  nature. 

237.  Evolution.— The  theory  of  evolution  asserts 
that  the  process  by  which  nature  passes  from  one  state 
of  existence  to  another  is  "like  that  which  takes  place 
in  the  development  of  an  ovum  into  a  mature  animal/' 
Now  it  is  insisted  that  the  earth  was  not  created.    It 
was  born.    It  was  not  born  full  grown  and  in  complete 
maturity.    All  of  its  features  of  landscape,  of  moun- 
tain and  valley,  of  river  and  ocean,  of  land,  of  rocks 
and  soils,  of  plants  and  animals,  even  its  seasons  and 
its  climates,  have  been  developed  through  countless 
ages  of  duration,  of  duration  so  long  that  a  beginning 


CHAP.  XV  THE  OWNERSHIP  OF  THE  EARTH  191 

is  as  unthinkable  as  an  ending  seems  impossible.  Dur- 
ing all  this  time  the  earth  has  moved  out  and  on  in 
space,  by  a  combination  of  movements  so  complicated 
that  no  one  can  diagram  her  course,  and  with  a  speed 
so  great  that  even  calculation  cannot  measure  her  jour- 
ney or  keep  pace  with  her  progress. 

238.  Pre-conscious  Development.— But  the  earth  is 
not  only  related  to  time  and  to  space  with  no  end  to 
one  and  no  limit  to  the  other,  but  it  is  instinct  with 
life,  with  life  as  boundless  and  infinite  as  is  the  life  of 
the  universe  itself.  In  the  study  of  living  organisms, 
the  naturalist  is  never  satisfied  until  he  has  discovered 
the  function,  that  is,  the  use  or  purpose,  of  every  sep- 
arate bone,  muscle,  nerve  and  organ,  and  the  relation  of 
each  to  all.  What  is  this  organ  for!  What  end  does 
this  muscle  serve!  These  questions  are  constantly  on 
the  lips  of  the  scientists.  Surely,  if  we  may  ask  for 
and  expect  to  find  a  purpose  for  each  part  of  each 
simplest  life,  in  the  same  way  we  may  ask  for  and 
expect  to  find  some  answer  to  our  question,  namely: 
When  man  ceased  to  play  a  wholly  unconscious  part  in 
his  own  evolution  and  commenced  with  conscious  fore- 
sight and  purpose,  to  provide  for  his  own  comfort, 
what  then  did  he  find  to  be  in  his  own  "  state  of  na- 
ture/' his  relations  to  the  natural  resources!  Had  the 
natural  selection  of  his  preconscious  career  put  him  in 
the  way  of  Collectivism  or  of  monopoly  as  the  natural 
relation  of  the  race  to  the  earth !  It  has  been  seen  that 
without  Collectivism  he  could  not  have  survived.  It 
has  been  seen  how  this  Collectivism  of  insects,  birds  and 
beasts  relates  itself  in  the  same  manner  to  the  col- 
lective use  of  nature  in  their  collective  struggle  for  ex- 
istence. It  has  been  seen  that  for  a  thousand  centuries 
after  unconscious,  natural  selection  had  been  succeed- 
ed on  the  part  of  man  by  conscious,  natural  selection 


192  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

that  it  never  seems  to  have  occurred  to  any  part  of 
the  race  to  monopolize  nature's  gifts  to  all. 

239.  The  Right  of  the  Most  Conscious.— Again,  the 
earth  must  belong  in  nature  to  that  manifestation  of 
nature  which,  being  most  conscious,  is  best  able  to  en- 
force its  right  to  the  earth  and  to  make  use  of  the 
earth.    Man  is  the  most  conscious  part  of  nature.    He 
has  achieved  the  mastery  over  the  rest  of  nature.    He 
alone  can  use  to  the  best  advantage  all  of  nature.    He 
alone  can  use  her  mines,  the  advantages  of  cultiva- 
tion, the  fruits  of  improved  natural  increase  and  me- 
chanical and  chemical  forces.    If  most  things  are  used 
to  their  best  advantage,  if  many  things  are  used  at 
all,  man  must  use  them,  and  he  can  use  them  to  the 
best  advantage  only  by  collective  use.    If  the  natural 
resources  do  not  belong  to  man,  and  to  all  men,  then 
there  are  no  natural  relations  between  the  highest  cul- 
mination of  natural  life  and  the  natural  resources  and 
natural  forces  which  make  up  the  environment  which 
has  brought  to  its  culmination  this  same  highest  life. 

240.  Man  and  the  Rest  of  Nature.— If  this  relation 
between  man  and  the  rest  of  nature  and  the  claims  of 
all  men  on  the  rest  of  nature,  which  must  result  from 
this  relation,  are  to  be  denied,  then  the  relation  of 
motherhood  itself  may  as  well  be  disputed  and  all  the 
study  of  the  relations  of  things,  or  of  persons  and 
things,  be  at  once  abandoned.    But  this  study  of  re- 
lations cannot  be  abandoned.    One  cannot  think  at  all 
without  thinking  of  the  relations  of  things  or  of  per- 
sons and  things.    There  are  no  relations  more  evident 
or  more  important  than  the  relations  of  man,  all  men, 
to  the  natural  resources  and  to  the    natural    forces 
which  have  caused  his  existence,  and  on  which  he  must 
depend  for  the  means  of  life,  if  after  having  been 
brought  into  existence  he  is  to  continue  to  exist  at  all. 

241.  The    Earth    and   Man— The    Plant    and   Its 


CHAP.  XV  THE  OWNERSHIP  OF  THE  EARTH  193 

Flower.— Every  flowering  plant  exists  for  the  sake  of 
its  blossoms.  Every  orchard  tree  grows  for  the  sake 
of  its  fruit.  Man  is  the  best  and  highest  product  of 
nature  which  is  known  to  us.  All  that  had  gone  before 
him  was  making  way  for  his  coming.  All  that  had 
gone  before  was  but  himself,  enlarging  and  perfecting 
the  forms  of  his  own  life.  The  earth  and  man  are 
both  the  children  of  nature.  They  are  not  unrelated. 
Man  is  the  mature  animal  grown  from  the  ovum  born 
from  the  earth.  Out  of  the  earth  and  the  eternal  forces 
of  which  the  earth  itself  is  a  product,  man  has  arisen 
on  the  earth.  In  the  nature  of  things  the  earth  must 
be  adapted  to  his  needs,— else  he  could  not  have  come 
into  existence  on  the  earth,  or,  being  in  existence,  he 
could  not  have  survived.  It  furnishes  the  materials 
for  his  food,  the  fiber  for  his  clothing,  the  means  for 
his  shelter  and  the  fuel  for  his  comfort. 

242.  Mutual  Adaptation.— Twist  the  earth's  posi- 
tion but  a  little  and  correct  the  incline  of  its  axis 
toward  the  sun  and  the  changing  of  the  seasons  would 
cease  forever.  The  equator  would  then  move  on  under 
a  blazing  sun  that  no  life  could  endure  and  the  great 
temperate  belt,  the  scene  of  all  man's  great  achieve- 
ments, would  then  become  uninhabitable  fields  of  un- 
changing ice.7 

Open  a  way  for  the  unhindered  passage  westward  of 
the  waters  of  the  Atlantic  at  the  Isthmus  of  Panama, 
and  the  Gulf  stream  would  disappear.  Its  northern 
movement,  with  its  burden  of  warmth,  a  thousand  feet 
deep  and  a  hundred  miles  wide,  moving  at  the  rate  of 
four  miles  an  hour,  would  no  longer  make  the  Euro- 
pean climate  endurable.8 

So  twist  the  earth's  axis  or  so  open  a  passage  for 
the  Atlantic,  and  in  either  case,  between  the  everlast- 

7.  Shaler:     pp.  59-63. 

8.  Shaler:     pp.  146-147. 


194  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

ing  cold  and  the  everlasting  heat  of  the  frigid  and  the 
torrid  zones,  then  brought  close  together  and  with 
both  the  heat  and  cold  greatly  intensified,  an  unceas- 
ing storm  of  measureless  fury  would  sweep  away  or 
drown  all  life  from  the  narrow  strip  of  temperate  coun- 
try still  left  between  these  two  extremes.9 

By  a  thousand  close  adjustments,  nature  holds  her 
children  safely  and  makes  man's  existence  possible. 
The  earth  is  adapted  to  man's  needs.  Man  is  adapted 
to  the  earth.  They  are  both  the  children  of  nature. 
They  are  the  child  and  the  grandchild  of  the  mother 
of  worlds.  The  earth  were  a  barren  woman,  mean- 
ingless in  her  disappointed  maternity,  were  it  not  for 
man.  Man's  existence  is  unthinkable  without  the 
earth.  The  'earth  is  his  because  he  must  use  it  or  he 
cannot  survive. 

243.  Monopoly  and  Collectivism.— But  the  nature 
of  monopoly  is  to  deny  this  inherent,  necessary  rela- 
tionship of  man  to  the  earth  and  to  rob  most  men  of  its 
benefits.    The  nature  of  Collectivism  is  to  enforce  this 
necessary  and  inherent  relationship  between  the  earth 
and  man  and  to  protect  the  interests  of  all  in  this  com- 
mon inheritance. 

244.  The  monopolists  can  find  no  defense  in  nature 
for  their  wrongs  against  the  race.    All  nature  is  re- 
lated, collected,  united.     From  "the  stars    in  their 
course ' '  to  the  minutest  fragments  of  floating  dust,  her 
grasp  is  as  resistless  as  it  is  eternal.    From  the  forms 
of  life  so  simple  and  so  fleeting  that  the  student's 
glance  through  the  microscope  is  more  prolonged  than 
the  birth,  maturity  and  decay  of  such  life,— from  such 
a  simple  life  to  the  most  prolonged  and  most  ennobled 
life  of  man,— nature  is  bound  together,  is  related;  her 

9.    Shaler:   pp.  146-147. 


CHAP.  XV  THE  OWNERSHIP  OF  THE  EARTH  19o 

sequence,  her  order,  her  intelligibility,  her  Collectiv- 
ism is  complete. 

245.  The  Test  of  Strength.— Again,  if  it  be  claimed 
that  the  earth 's  origin  and  man's  origin  on  the  earth 
are  of  no  consequence  and  that  the  earth  belongs  to 
those  who,  in  the  struggle  for  existence,  have  been 
able  to  get  it  and  that  having  it,  they  have  the  right 
to  keep  it,  the  answer  is  that  the  struggle  for  existence 
is  not  over,  and  this  position,  if  admitted,  will  prove 
too  much  for  those  who  hold  to  private  monopoly  in 
the  ownership  of  the  earth.    If  those  who  are  able  to 
take  it  may  rightfully  own  it,  then  it  only  remains 
for  the  whole  people  to  take  it  in  order  to  own  it  be- 
yond dispute.     More  than  this,  if  ability  to  take  es- 
tablishes the  right  to  own,  no  one  will  dispute  that  all 
of  the  people  are  stronger  than  any  share  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  therefore  the  helpless  few  who  hold  the  earth' 
are  not  its  rightful  owners,  even  on  the  ground  of  the 
righteousness  of  might,  which  is  the  last  and  only  de- 
fense for  their  betrayal  of  the  race  by  the  few  who 
wish  to  exclude  the  many  from  equal  access  to  all  the 
gifts  of  nature.10 

246.  Private  Titles  Based  on  Force.— Unreasonable 
as  this  position  may  seem  in  such  a  bald  statement  of 
the  case,  the  fact  is  that  all  private  titles  to  all  natural 
resources  do  rest  on  no  other  foundation  than  force.    It 
has  been  seen  in  Chapters  Four  and  Five  how  the 
force  which  established  the  private  legal  titles  to  the 

10.  "There  is  nothing  which  so  generally  strikes  the  imagina- 
tion and  engages  the  affections  of  mankind  on  the  right  of  prop- 
erty; or  that  sole  and  despotic  dominion  which  one  man  claims  and 
exercises  over  the  external  things  of  the  world,  in  total  exclusion 
of  the  right  of  any  other  individual  in  the  universe.  And  yet  there 
are  very  few  that  will  give  themselves  the  trouble  to  consider  the 
original  and  foundation  of  this  right.  Pleased  as  we  are  with  the 
possession,  we  seem  afraid  to  look  back  to  the  means  by  which  it 
was  acquired,  as  if  fearful  of  some  defect  in  our  title;  or  at  best 
we  rest  satisfied  with  the  decision  of  the  laws  in  our  favor,  with- 
out examining  the  reason  for  authority  upon  which  those  laws  have 


196  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  HI 

land  also  established  chattel  slavery  and  the  subjec- 
tion of  woman.  It  has  been  seen  how  the  militarism 
which  established  slavery  and  the  private  titles  to  laud 
grew  into  world-wide  despotism.  The  despotic  po- 
litical power  established  by  militarism  has  been  over- 
thrown. Chattel  slavery  established  by  militarism  has 
been  outgrown  and  forbidden,  but  private  land  titles 
resting  on  no  other  defense  than  the  same  defense  which 
established,  perpetuated  and  defended  both  political 
despotism  and  chattel  slavery,  still  remain.  There  is 
not  an  argument  which  can  be  made  for  the  monopoly 
of  land  which  cannot  be  made  with  equal  force  for 
the  defense  of  political  despotism  and  for  the  defense 
of  chattel  slavery.  The  destruction  of  both  political 
despotism  and  chattel  slavery,  so  far  as  their  destruc- 
tion has  really  been  accomplished,  has  been  by  the  col- 
lective growth  and  the  collective  revolt  of  the  collective 
life  of  the  race. 

247.  The  End  of  Monopoly.— The  tyranny  of  des- 
potism and  the  inequality  of  slavery  can  never  be  ut- 
terly destroyed  so  long  as  monopoly  in  the  ownership 
of  the  natural  resources  is  permitted  to  remain.  The 
same  militarism  which  destroyed  primitive  Collectiv- 
ism, in  the  use  of  the  earth,  also  destroyed  Democracy 
and  Equality.  The  evolutionary  process  which  is  so 

been  built.  We  think  it  enough  that  our  title  is  derived  by  the 
grant  of  the  former  proprietor,  by  descent  from  our  ancestors,  or 
by  the  last  will  and  testament  of  the  dying  owner;  not  caring  to 
reflect  that  (accurately  and  strictly  speaking)  there  is  no  founda- 
tion in  nature  or  in  natural  law  why  a  set  of  words  upon  parch- 
ment should  convey  the  domain  of  land;  why  the  son  should  have 
a  right  to  exclude  his  fellow  creatures  from  a  determinate  spot  of 
ground  because  his  father  had  done  so  before  him;  or  why  the 
occupier  of  a  particular  field  or  of  a  jewel,  when  lying  on  his 
death-bed,  and  no  longer  able  to  maintain  possession,  should  be  en- 
titled to  tell  the  rest  of  the  world  which  of  them  should  enjoy  it 
after  him.  These  inquiries  it  must  be  owned,  would  be  useless  and 

;  even  troublesome  in  common  life.  It  is  well  if  the  mass  of  man- 
kind  will  obey  the  laws  when  made,  without  scrutinizing  too  nicely 

{  into  the  reasons  for  making  them." — Blackstone:  Commentaries  on 
English  Law,  Book  II.,  Chapter  L,  Section  2. 


CHAP.  XV  THE  OWNERSHIP  OF  THE  EARTH  197 

strongly  leading  to  the  establishment  of  Democracy 
and  Equality  can  never  cease  until,  in  its  culmination, 
Collectivism,  in  the  use  of  the  earth,  and  in  the  means 
by  which  the  earth  may  best  be  used,  shall  be  estab- 
lished. So  long  as  the  right  of  one  to  own  what  another 
must  use  is  admitted,  so  long  men  will  continue  the 
fight  with  bargains,  or  with  bayonets,  or  with  both,  to 
secure  and  extend  this  destructive  monopoly  in  the 
ownership  of  the  earth.  This  warfare  of  monopoly, 
tyranny,  and  inequality  can  never  be  stopped  except  by 
Collectivism.  But  under  Collectivism  such  a  conflict 
would  be  impossible,  for,  under  Collectivism,  monopoly 
must  stop  at  the  line  where  the  collective  interest 
makes  its  beginning. 

248.  Inherent  in  the  Nature  of  Things.— Lester  F. 
Ward  declares  that  "From  the  point  of  view  of  sen- 
tient beings,  that  is  most  natural  which  results  in  the 
greatest  advantage.''11  Until  it  can  be  shown  that  it 
is  to  "the  greatest  advantage"  of  a  living  organism 
to  be  denied  the  means  of  providing  the  means  of  its 
own  existence,  monopoly  in  the  ownership  of  the  earth 
must  be  held  to  be,  in  effect,  the  denial  of  necessary 
human  rights,  which  are  inherent  in  the  nature  of 
things,  under  any  possible,  rational  interpretation  of 
the  nature  of  things.  Collectivism  is  the  only  alterna- 
tive. As  society  approaches  the  realization  of  this 
truth,  Socialism  becomes  the  self-evident  necessity  of 
the  ripening  movement  of  the  years.  The  origin  of  So- 
cialism is  in  the  nature  of  things.  The  development  of 
Socialism  is  nothing  else  than  the  natural  development 
of  the  life  of  the  race  under  the  dominion  'of  natural 
law.  This  development  is  more  rapid,  more  resistless, 
and  the  results  more  inevitable  as  the  process  of  evolu- 
tion becomes  more  conscious,  and  hence  more  purpose- 

11.     Ward:     Dynamic  Sociology,  Vol.  II,  p.  538. 


198  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

ful,— more  subject  to  the  foresight  of  intelligent  direc- 
tion, less  subject  to  the  chances  of  accidental  survivals. 
249.    Summary.— 1.    The  earth  belongs  to  all  men. 

2.  To  those  who  hold  to  the  authority  of  the  Chris- 
tian and  Jewish  scriptures,  the  authority  of  these  scrip- 
tures to  this  effect  is  complete. 

3.  To  the  scientific  mind,  the  making  of  the  earth 
and  the  origin  of  man  cannot  be  separated.    The  mo- 
nopoly of  the  earth  by  a  few  cannot  make  any  such  use 
of  the  earth  as  would  make  any  satisfactory  culmina- 
tion for  the  countless  centuries  of  time  and  the  vast 
movements  of  the  worlds  involved  in  the  creation  of 
both  the  earth  and  man.    But  the  use  of  all  the  earth 
by  all  the  people  through  long  periods  of  time,  while 
the  great  achievements  of  the  race  are  effected  and  the 
perfection  of  the  race-life  is  attained,  does  give  a  fit- 
ting climax  to  the  long  processes  of  the  ages. 

4.  The  earth  and  man  are  mutually  adapted  to  each 
other,  belong  together.     Man  cannot  live  without  it. 
Whatever  right  he  has  to  his  life,  he  has  the  same  right 
to  the  earth  as  the  sole  means  by  which  his  life  is  pos- 
sible. 

5.  Those  who  created  the  private  titles  to  the  earth 
created  these  titles  and  the  owners  continue  to  hold 
them  solely  by  force.    But  as  force  is  the  sole  founda- 
tion of  private  titles,  no  such  title  can  be  valid  in  the 
face  of  a  stronger  force.    The  private  owners  are  be- 
coming fewer  in  number  and  weaker  in  power.    The 
disinherited  are  becoming  larger  in  number  and  greater 
in  power.  Titles  based  on  force  must  finally  deliver  the 
earth  to  all  of  the  people. 

6.  Only  under  the  collective  use  of  the  earth's  re- 
sources can  the  earth  be  used  to  "the  greatest  advan- 
tage/' which  is  "most  natural." 

7.  Only  under  Socialism  can  this  advantage  of  col- 
lective use,  and  hence  the  fulfillment  of  natural  law,  be 
realized. 


CHAP.  XV  THE  OWNERSHIP  OF  THE  EARTH  199 

REVIEW   QUESTIONS. 

1.  If   the    Biblical    account   of   the   earth's   origin    is   to   be    in- 
terpreted   as    a    literal    statement    of   facts    then    to    whom    does    the 
earth  belong? 

2.  If  the  scientific  account  of  the  origin  of  the  earth  is  to  be 
accepted,  then  to  whom  does  the  earth  belong? 

3.  Give  an  account  of  the  development  of  the  earth;  of  the  be- 
ginning and  the  forming  of  the  planets;  the  producing  of  the  rings  of 
Saturn;  the  moon;  and  the  earth's  surface. 

4.  Give    an    account   of   the   origin   of   coal,    of   oil,    and   of    the 
preparation  of  the  soil  for  cultivation. 

5.  Does   the   question   of   the   justice   of   man's    ioint    ownership 
of  the  earth  involve  the  question  of  intentions  or  of  conscious  design 
in  nature? 

G.  When  man  first  became  a  conscious  factor  in  his  own  de- 
velopment, how  did  he  regard  himself  as  related  to  the  earth?  Was 
his  earliest  use  of  the  earth  under  monopoly  or  Collectivism? 

7.  Can  man  live  without  the  earth? 

8.  Has   man   a   right   to   his   life   regardless   of   the   consent   of 
others  ? 

9.  Has  he  a   right  to  the   earth   regardless   of  the   consent   of 
others  ? 

10.  Why   has  the   most   conscious   part   of  the   earth   the  right 
of  mastery  or  ownership? 

11.  Why  has  man  a  right  to  the  earth  as  its  final  and  highest 
product  ? 

12.  Who  would  be  entitled  to  the  earth  under  the  argument  of 
adaptation  ? 

13.  Where   is   man's   place  in   nature   so   far   as   nature  herself 
may  indicate? 

14.  If  the  strongest  are  to  have  the  earth,  who  will  get  it  in 
the  future?    Why? 

15.  What  is  meant  by  the  nature  of  things? 

16.  Why   are   all   men   entitled  to   the   earth   in   the   nature   of 
things  ? 

17.  Why  is  the  collective  use  of  the  earth  necessary? 

18.  Why  is  Socialism  necessary  to  the  collective  use  of  the  earth? 


CHAPTEE  XVI 

RELIGIOUS  AND  POLITICAL  DEMOCRACIES 

250.  The   Fall   of   Democracy.— Democracy    once 
ruled  the  world  in  its  economic  interests,  and  through 
these,  all  other  interests  as  well.    This  was  the  case 
under  barbarism.    When  war  became  the  chief  indus- 
try, and  the  military  master  the  master  of  the  indus- 
tries, as  well  as  of  war,  then  despotism  succeeded  De- 
mocracy.   Collectivism  yielded  to  monopoly,  and  equal- 
ity of  opportunity  to  inequality.    The  individual  work- 
man no  longer  depended  for  his  own  existence  on  his 
own  efforts,  but  first  of  all  on  the  consent  of  his  indus- 
trial master. 

251.  The  Struggle  for  Democracy.— The  struggle 
for  Democracy  anywhere  is  a  step  towards  its  re-ap- 
pearance everywhere.    So  far  as  the  struggle  for  De- 
mocracy has  been  effective  in  religious  or  political  or- 
ganizations, these  struggles  have  not  only  had  their 
economic  causes,  but  they  are  also  having  their  eco- 
nomic results. 

252.  Political  Democracies  Among  Industrial  Mas- 
ters.—Socialism  asks  for  Democracy  in  industry.    Has 
Democracy  been  recently  tried  in  other  fields?    Has 
the  tyranny  of  private  monopoly  been  overthrown  any- 


CHAP.  XVI    RELIGIOUS  AND  POLITICAL  DEMOCRACIES  201 

where  else  in  such  a  way  as  to  suggest  a  like  victory 
at  the  workshop  and  in  the  market  place?  Heretofore 
all  revolutions  under  the  monopoly  of  capitalism  have 
been  revolutions  by  which  some  inferior  class  has 
sought  to  overthrow  the  authority  of  some  superior 
class  whose  rule  it  had  found  unbearable.  In  no  case 
has  any  successful  revolution  gone  to  the  bottom  and 
sought  to  enfranchise  those  who  were  the  servants  of 
the  rebels,  as  well  as  to  overthrow  those  who  were  their 
masters.  As  a  result  all  Democracies  under  civiliz- 
ation have  been  limited  in  their  citizenship  to  those 
who  had  been  able  to  overthrow  their  masters,  and 
have  never  extended  to  the  field  of  industry  in 
which  these  political  democrats  were  themselves 
oppressing  their  industrial  dependents.  Nevertheless, 
the  overthrow  of  the  masters,  in  any  event,  and  the 
world's  ability  to  get  along  without  them  anywhere, 
once  established,  has  always  strengthened  the  claims  of 
Democracy  and  has  had  the  distinct  effect  of  bringing 
nearer  the  coming  of  Socialism,  under  which  industrial 
Democracy  will  dispose  of  the  industrial  masters,  along 
with  the  utter  destruction  of  the  whole  human  relation- 
ship of  mastery  and  servitude.1 

1.  "The  struggle  for  emancipation  through  the  exercise  of  leg- 
islative power,  as  we  have  said,  is  indispensable  in  conducting  the 
social  struggle.  Those  who  do  not  possess  it  are  condemned  to  per- 
petual passivity.  The  unique  method  which  they  employ  against  the 
ruling  classes  is  aptly  called  the  struggle  for  emancipation.  The 
might  of  ideas  is  on  their  side,  a  significant  statement  which  needs 
careful  explanation. 

"The  superior  classes,  as  we  have  seen,  cannot  rest  content  with 
the  fact  of  superiority;  political  relations  need  to  be  confirmed; 
might  must  be  turned  into  right.  It  seemed  simple  enough  for  them 
to  say:  Let  this  be  right.  But  every  right  has  its  obverse  obliga- 
tion; however  comprehensive,  it  has  its  limits  at  which  obligations 
begin,  the  rights  of  those  who  hitherto  have  had  none.  So  the 
rights  of  the  rulers  produced  the  rights  of  the  ruled.  The  germ  was 
there  and  it  must  develop. 

"But  more  than  this;  the  human  mind  probes  to  the  foundation 
of  things  seeking  the  principle  of  causation  and  analyzing  the  change 
of  phenomena  to  find  their  eternal  unchanging  essence.  Now  in  the 
changing  phases  of  right  the  enduring  principle  is  the  idea.  Thus 
rights  not  only  lead  to  obligations,  but  also  to  the  idea  of  right. 


202  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PAET  III 

253.  The  Early  Church.  —  The  early  Christian 
church  came  into  world-wide  influence  so  largely  and 
so  rapidly  because  of  its  connections  with  the  ancient 
labor  unions  and  the  slaves '  associations.  These  unions 
and  associations  were  in  every  respect  as  fully  demo- 
cratic as  possible  under  the  limitations  of  secrecy  made 
necessary  by  the  enmity  of  the  government  of  the 

"If  the  obligation  could  be  called  the  consequence  of  right  in 
space,  the  idea  was  its  consequence  in  time.  Whoever  asserts  his 
rights  cannot  escape  their  consequences.  Thus  the  rulers  them- 
selves forge  weapons  with  which  the  ruled  and  powerless  classes 
successfully  attack  them  and  complete  the  natural  process.  The  egoism 
of  the  powerful  prepares  the  way  for  the  uprising  of  the  weak. 

"The  idea  of  right  is  not  a  purely  fanciful  conception.  It  has 
power  to  influence  men  and  can  be  practically  applied.  Men  grow 
accustomed  year  by  year  to  submit  to  rights;  they  use  legal  forms 
constantly  and  learn  to  respect  rightful  limitations,  until  finally  the 
conception,  the  very  idea,  of  rights  pervades  and  controls  them.  In 
this  way  the  idea  of  right  becomes  the  fit  weapon  for  those  who  have 
no  other. 

"But  its  application  is  not  simple.  The  legal  bulwarks  of  the 
powerful  will  not  yield  to  a  simple  appeal  to  ideas  as  Jericho's  walls 
fell  at  the  blast  of  trumpets;  and,  besides,  the  propertyless  and 
powerless  are  unable  to  use  such  mental  weapons  immediately.  Again 
we  see  the  egoism  of  the  one  class  promoting  the  social  evolution  of  the 
whole.  The  bourgeoisie  in  the  struggle,  with  the  other  property 
classes,  is  the  first  to  appeal  to  universal  human  rights,  to  freedom 
and  equality. 

"It  claims  to  be  contending,  not  for  itself  alone,  but  for  the 
good  of  the  whole  folk.  And  it  succeeds  not  without  the  support  of 
the  masses  whom  it  flatters  and  to  whom  it  discloses  the  resplend- 
ent goal  of  freedom  and  equality.  Its  might,  like  that  of  the  higher 
class,  is  now  based  on  right,  and  though  for  the  moment  what 
it  has  won  seems  to  be  clear  gain,  it  has  found  the  yoke  of  legal 
logic  about  its  neck  and  must  submit  to  its  ideas. 

"For  the  lowest  classes  participation  in  the  struggle  was  a  profit- 
able experience.  Even  the  slight  amelioration  of  their  condition 
was  an  advantage.  It  taught  them  many  a  lesson.  But  it  is  hard 
for  them,  relying  simply  on  ideas,  to  undertake  the  social  struggle, 
for  political  regulations  are  firmly  based  on  the  possession  of 
material  goods  and  are  defended  by  the  middle  class  also,  and 
moreover  as  time  goes  on  some  of  their  ideas  prove  false  and  inde- 
fensible. 

"But  in  spite  of  exaggerations  they  are  logical  consequences  of 
principles  which  the  ruling  class  asserted  in  its  own  interest  and 
from  which  the  middle  class  profited,  declaring  them  at  the  time  to 
be  universal.  They  cannot  be  wholly  eradicated;  they  aid  the  strug- 
gle for  the  emancipation  of  the  fourth  class  powerfully.  They  in- 
spire the  masses  with  fanaticism  and  the  struggle  for  the  emanci- 
pation succeeds."— Gumpjowicz :  The  Outlines  of  Sociology,  pp.  148-149. 


CHAP.  XVI    RELIGIOUS  AND  POLITICAL  DEMOCRACIES  203 

Caesars.2  The  old  church  was  not  a  respecter  of  per- 
sons.3 It  did  not  act  in  any  matters  of  importance 
without  conference  and  agreement  with  the  brothers, 
and  these  democratic  fraternities  of  the  working  people, 
lasted  for  at  least  two  hundred  and  fifty  years.  These 
examples  of  Collectivism,  of  Democracy  and  of  Equality 
were  so  real  and  far-reaching  that  thejater  military  or- 
ganization of  the  church  has  been  unable  to  utterly  de- 
stroy them.4 

254.  Ecclesiastical  Rebels.— Bodies  of  worshipers 
who  did  not  yield  to  the  new  authorities  on  the  develop- 
ment of  the  military  model  of  church  organization  still 
clung  to  the  traditions  'of  the  earlier  Democracies. 

2.  "Still    another    peculiarity    of    the    labor    organizations    was 
that  they  were   secret.     All  through  the  vista   of  a  thousand  years 
during  which  we  know  them  they  were  strictly  a  secret  order.     This 
habit  of  secrecy  proved  of  greatest  value  during  persecutions.     Being 
legalized  by  a  law  so  much  revered,  they  were  seldom  molested  ex- 
cept  when  persecuted  on  account  of  their  political   activities.     Then 
it  was  that  their  discipline     of  profound  secrecy  proved  of  greatest 
value.     After   the   amalgamation   of   the   Christians  with   them   their 
secrecy   was   so   great   that   for   ages   they   maintained   themselves   in 
spite  of  the  most  searching  detectives  of  the  Roman  police  the  world 
over;  and  the  evangelizing  agents  continued  the  preaching  of  the  orig- 
inal doctrines  and  ideas  until  at  last  they  assumed  the  mastery  and 
conquered  the  Roman  world." — Ward:    Ancient  Lowly,  Vol.  II.,  p.  105. 

"Sodalicia"  is  one  of  the  names  applied  to  the  ancient  Roman 
labor  organizations.  Certain  organizations  within  the  Roman  Catholic 
church  are  today  known  as  "Sodalities."  (Sodalis  Companion.) 

"What  became  of  all  of  these  incomes  into  the  eranos — (labor 
unions)  ?  They  went  to  buy,  in  quantities  and  at  wholesale,  without 
the  usual  middleman  and  his  system  of  selfish  profits,  the  food  for 
the  common  table,  to  which  all  the  members  had  an  equal  demo- 
cratic right.  Why  not?  Each,  without  exception,  paid  into  a  com- 
mon fund  the  same  sum  in  form  of  periodical  dues  sufficient  to 
keep  him  or  her  supplied  with  nourishment  which  under  that  sys- 
tem of  the  syssitoi  was  furnished  by  the  society  out  of  these  in- 
pouring  funds;  and  it  had  a  complete  set  of  cooks,  buyers,  waiters, 
and  officers  of  every  kind  to  carry  out  the  system  to  perfection." 
Ward:  Ancient  Lowly,  Vol.  II.,  p.  263. 

3.  "In  the  great  community  of  the  lovers  of  Christ  'bond  and 
free'  were  alike.     There  was  no  distinction  in  the  sight  of  God,  none 
in  the  church.     They  recognized  slavery  as  they  recognized  the  tyr- 
anny of  Caesar,  but  they  put  the  slave,  in  their  treatment  and  in  their 
language,    on    the    like    footing    with    his    owner." — Brace:      Gesta 
Christa,  p.  45. 

4.  "It  is  striking  that  with  the  demand  for  freedom  from  feudal 


204  THE   EVOLUTION   OF   SOCIALISM  PART  III 

Except  where  the  protesting  churches  acted  under  the 
patronage  of  royal  authority,  as  in  England  and  in 
Germany,5  all  revolts  against  the  military  authorities 
of  the  church  have  always  been  efforts  to  re-establish 
ecclesiastical  Democracies.  This  was  true  of  Wycliffe, 
and  the  Lollards,  of  Huss,  of  the  Waldenses,  of  the 
Quakers,  and  of  the  Russian  Stundists.  The  Quakers 
and  the  Stundists  carry  their  principles  of  Democracy 
back  to  the  primitive  order  of  unanimous  agreement. 

255.  The  Calvinistic  Churches.— John  Calvin  was 
the  principal  citizen  of  Geneva,  which  was  an  ancient 
free  city.  In  later  years  Eousseau  came  from  Geneva 
to  Paris  and  wrote  into  his  social  theories  what  he  had 
already  seen  in  practice  in  his  native  city,  together 
with  its  traditions  of  an  earlier  and  completer  Democ- 
racy. 

When  Calvin  helped  to  separate  his  city  from  the 
military  organization  of  the  church,  he  found  his  model 
for  re-organization,  not  in  the  army,  but  in  the  demo- 
cratic ideals  of  the  city  of  his  adoption  and  in  the 
traditions  of  the  Democracies  of  the  early  church.  In 
France,  in  Scotland,  in  Holland,  in  England  and  finally 
in  America,  the  ecclesiastical  democrats  became  polit- 
ical democrats  as  rapidly  as  they  were  able  to  win  con- 
trol of  the  political  power.  It  is  impossible  to  over- 
estimate the  influence  of  the  Democracy  of  Holland  on 
the  English  sojourners  in  that  country  who  afterward 
became  so  largely  the  builders  of  New  England's  in- 

burdens  is  always  included  that  for  a  free  and  elected  clergy." — 
Brace:  Gesta  Christa,  p.  234. 

5.  In  England  the  revolt  against  the  church  authorities  at 
Rome  was  purely  a  political  matter,  led  by  the  King  of  England, 
and  was  simply  a  shifting  of  the  head  of  the  English  ecclesiastical 
authority  from  Rome  to  the  English  King.  In  Germany  the  princes 
were  fighting  the  political  power  of  Rome  quite  as  much  as  was 
Luther  fighting  the  ecclesiastical  authority.  Neither  the  English 
nor  Lutheran  church  became  democratic,  because  both  were  estab- 
lished either  directly  by  or  under  the  patronage  of  royal  authorities. 


CHAP.  XT'I    RELIGIOUS  AND  POLITICAL  DEMOCRACIES  205 

stitutions.  It  is  clearly  the  case  that  the  Democracy  of 
the  Calvinistic  churches  had  no  small  share  in  support- 
ing the  democratic  tendencies  of  the  American  col- 
onists. 

256.  The   Windsor    Constitution.— In   Connecticut 
was  established  the  most  ideal  of  political  Democracies. 
The  frontiersmen  wrote  at  Windsor  the  first  Constitu- 
tion in  human  history  which  was  the  instrument  of  cre- 
ating a  new  and  sovereign  state.    In  it  they  separated 
citizenship  from  church  membership.    They  made  no 
appeal  to  the  consideration  of  royal  grants  or  ecclesi- 
astical endorsements.     These  free  men  of  the  open 
forest  admitted  no  power  on  earth  more  sacred  than 
their  own  voluntary  action.    But  this  work  was  accom- 
plished with  the  help  of  one  of  those  Calvinistic  preach- 
ers, who,  having  helped  to  create  a  church  without  a 
bishop,  proceeded  to  help  build  a  state  without  a  king. 
This  preacher,  Thomas  Hooker,  whom  John  Fiske  con- 
tends deserves  more  to  be  called  the  father  of  American 
Democracy  than  any  other  man,  held  that  t  i  The  choice 
of  public  magistrates  belongs  unto  the  people  by  God's 
own  allowance, "  and  that  "they  who  have  power  to  ap- 
point officers  and  magistrates  have  the  right  also  to  set 
the  bounds  and  limitations  of  the  power  and  place  unto 
which  they  call  them."    Fiske  further  claims  that  at 
the  time  of  the  American  Eevolution,  the  state  of  Con- 
necticut was  "The  strongest  political  structure  of  the 
continent. '  '6 

257.  American  Industrial  and  Political  Democracy. 
—Karl  Marx  holds   that   the  American  frontiersman 
never  lost  his  industrial  independence,  secured  through 
the  settlement  of  a  new  country  and  the  use  of  simple 
and  inexpensive  tools,  until  the  time  of  the  American 
civil  war.7    American  political  Democracy  has  never 

6     John  Fiske:     The  Beginnings  of  New  England,  p.  127. 
7.     Marx:     Capital,  Chapter  XXXIII. 


206  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

willingly  consented  to  the  monopoly  of  political  power. 
The  political  power  of  Jefferson,  Jackson  and  most  of 
all,  of  Lincoln,  was  the  result  of  a  direct  appeal  to 
this  frontiersman's  spirit  of  holding  and  using  political 
power  for  economic  advantage  as  the  political  right  of 
an  American  citizen. 

258.  Lincoln  on  Labor  and  Capital.— The  discus- 
sions of  Lincoln  on  labor  and  capital  and  his  warning 
to  the  self-employed  American  workers  not  to  lose  or 
neglect  to  use  their  political  power  in  their  own  eco- 
nomic behalf,  is  only  a  part  of  the  record  of  how  deeply 
the  right  of  self-government,  of  political  Democracy, 
was  appreciated  and  how  clearly,  at  least,  Mr.  Lincoln 
could  see  the  economic  importance  of  political  activi- 
ties by  the  workers  in  their  own  behalf.8 

259.  The  Populist  Party.— The  Populist  party  was 
not  so  much  an  effort  to  save  mortgaged  farms  as  to 

8.  "In  these  documents  we  find  the  abridgement  of  the  existing 
right  of  suffrage,  and  the  denial  to  the  people  of  all  rights  to  par- 
ticipate in  the  selection  of  public  officers  except  the  legislative,  boldly 
advocated,  with  labored  arguments  to  prove  that  large  control  of 
the  people  in  government  is  the  source  of  all  political  evil. 
In  my  present  position  I  could  scarcely  be  justified  were  I  to  omit 
raising  a  warning  voice  against  this  approach  to  returning  despot- 
ism. *  *  *  There  is  one  point  with  its  connections  not  so  hack- 
neyed as  most  others,  to  which  I  ask  a  brief  attention:  It  is  an 
effort  to  place  capital  upon  an  equal  footing  with,  if  not  above,  labor 
in  the  structure  of  government.  Labor  is  prior  to,  and 

independent  of,  capital.  Capital  is  only  the  fruit  of  labor,  and 
could  never  have  existed  if  labor  had  not  existed.  Labor  is  the 
superior  of  capital,  and  deserves  much  the  higher  (Consideration. 
The  prudent,  penniless  beginner  in  the  world  labors  for  wages  a 
while,  saves  a  surplus  with  which  tp  buy  tools  or  land  for  himself, 
then  labors  on  his  own  account  for  a  while,  and  at  length  hires  an- 
other new  beginner  to  help  him.  This  is  the  just  and  generous  and 
prosperous  system  which  opens  the  way  to  all,  gives  hope  to  all,  and 
consequent  energy,  progress  and  improvement  of  condition  to  all. 
No  men  living  are  more  worthy  to  be  trusted  than  those  who  toil 
up  from  poverty — none  less  inclined  to  take  or  touch  aught  which 
they  have  not  honestly  earned. 

"Let  them  beware  of  surrendering  a  political  power  which  they 
already  possess,  and  which,  if  surrendered,  will  surely  be  used  to 
close  the  door  of  advancement  against  such  as  they,  and  to  fix  new 
disabilities  and  burdens  upon  them,  till  all  of  liberty  shall  be  lost." 
— Lincoln's  Annual  Message  to  Congress,  Dec.  3,  1861. 


CHAP.  XVI    RELIGIOUS  AND  POLITICAL  DEMOCRACIES  207 

prevent  political  monopoly  from  forever  withholding 
from  the  workers  any  effective  voice  in  the  control  of 
public  affairs.  Its  cry  was  against  the  plutocrat,  not 
so  much  because  he  controlled  in  the  market,  as  be- 
cause he  was  a  political  usurper;  and  the  control  of 
politics,  by  millions  of  dollars,  meant  to  them  both  the 
political  and  economic  dependence  of  millions  of  men. 

260.  In  no  instance  in  all  this  were  the  economic 
proposals  of  the  Socialists  made  or  more  than  remotely 
hinted  at,  and  yet  all  this  was  a  part  of  the  struggle  for 
Democracy,  and  Democracy  is  essential  to  Socialism. 

261.  A    Shop    Without   a  Boss.— Lyman  Abbott 
claims,    with   good   reason,    "That   when   the   world 
learned   it   could  have  a  state   without  a  king  and  a 
church  without  a  bishop,  it  had  taken  a  long  step  to- 
wards learning  that  there  could  be  a  shop  without  a 
boss."9 

262.  The  Plutocrat,  the  Democrat  and  Socialism.— 

The  political  warfare  of  today  is  widely  admitted  to 
be  a  contest  between  the  plutocrat  and  the  democrat. 
This  war  cannot  last  long  without  discovering  that  the 
plutocrat  is  all-powerful  in  the  government  because  he 
is  all-powerful  in  the  market  place;  that  the  democrat, 
the  workingman,  the  industrial  slave,  is  helpless  in 
the  government  because  he  is  industrially  depend- 
ent in  the  market  place.  The  power  of  the  plutocrat  in 
politics  has  its  source  in  the  monopoly  of  the  shop  and 
the  market.  The  workingman  will  never  be  able  to 
show  his  power  in  the  state  unless  he  shall  achieve  his 
industrial  independence  in  the  shop  and  in  the  market. 
There  can  be  no  real  Democracy  anywhere  until  the 
means  of  producing  the  means  of  life  come  under  demo- 
cratic control.  Make  the  workers  once  the  masters  of 
their  own  means  of  producing  the  means  of  life,  and 

9.    Lyman  Abbott:     Industrial  Democracy,  (a  lecture). 


208  THE   EVOLUTION  OF   SOCIALISM  PART  III 

they  will  take  care  of  Democracy  everywhere  else.  The 
struggle  for  Democracy  and  against  the  masters  of  the 
lives  of  others,  anywhere,  is  in  vain,  unless  the  masters 
of  the  market-place  are  to  be  overthrown.  Ecclesias- 
tical and  political  Democracies  will  have  been  estab- 
lished in  vain  unless  that  political  power  shall  at  last 
be  used  to  establish  industrial  Democracy— which  is 
Socialism. 

263.  Summary.— 1.  Both  industrial  and  political 
Democracies  were  overthrown  by  the  introduction  of 
slavery  at  the  beginning  of  civilization. 

2.  Every  effort  to  re-establish  Democracy  anywhere 
has  been  a  part  of  the  long  struggle  to  re-establish  it 
everywhere. 

3.  The  early  church,    the    slave    associations,    the 
trades  unions,  the  fraternities,  and  besides,  all  ecclesi- 
astical revolts,  except  when  in  the  interest  of  political 
masters,  have  been  efforts  to  re-establish  Democracy. 

4.  American  Democracy  can  be  largely  traced  to 
freedom  of  economic  opportunity  and  the  influences  of 
the  independent  churches  which  were  themselves  re- 
versions to  primitive  Democracy. 

5.  The  present  struggle  between  the  political  pluto- 
crat and  the  political  democrat  can  never  come  to  any 
final  settlement  except  by  the  overthrow  of  the  indus- 
trial plutocrat  by  the  industrial  democrat,  which  means 
the  triumph  of  industrial  Democracy— which  is  So- 
cialism. 

REVIEW   QUESTIONS. 

1.  When  and  how  were  monopoly,  tyranny  and  inequality  estab- 
lished in  the  world? 

2.  What  is  meant  by  industrial  Democracy? 

•  3.  Has  there  ever  been  any  real  political  Democracy  without 
industrial  Democracy? 

4.  What    other    institutions    were    practicing    Democracy    at  ;the 
time  of  the  early  church? 

5.  After  what  model  was  the  church  afterward  organized? 

6.  What  was  characteristic  of  all  those  churches  which  refused 
to  conform  to  the  military  model  of  church  organization? 


CHAP.  XVI    RELIGIOUS  AND  POLITICAL  DEMOCRACIES  209 

7.  In  what  cases  were  there  church  revolts  which  did  not  attempt 
to  return  to  democratic  models? 

8.  Trace    Calvinistic    church    influence    in    promoting    American 
democratic  tendencies. 

9.  What   was   the    economic   foundation   of   the   early   American 
Democracy  ? 

10.  Quote  Lincoln  (Notes)  and  Lyman  Abbott. 

11.  Why  is  industrial  Democracy  necessary  if  political  Democ- 
racy is  to  exist  ? 


CHAPTER  XVII 

MODERN  SCIENCE  AND  SOCIALISM 

264.  Modern  Science.— The  word  "science"  means 
knowledge,  but  it  is  knowledge  in  a  particular  form. 
The  main  facts  relating  to  any  subject  must  be  gath- 
ered by  exact  observation  and  then  arranged  and 
classified  in  such  a  way  as  to  show  their  relations  to 
each  other.1 

The  term  "modern  science"  is  used  in  this  connec- 
tion as  meaning  knowledge  so  obtained  by  observation 
and  classification.  Any  knowledge  which  may  be  sup- 
posed to  have  been  obtained  by  intuition,  or  instinct,  or 
revelation,  or  dreams,  or  in  any  other  way  which  does 
not  involve  observed  facts  and  their  logical  arrange- 
ment and  classification,  as  the  process  by  which  conclu- 
sions are  reached,  cannot  be  spoken  of  as  "modern 
science." 

It  is  the  purpose  of  this  chapter  to  show  that,  so  far 
as  science  is  related  to  industrial  and  commercial  in- 
stitutions, the  conclusions  of  modern  science  are  in 
support  of  the  conclusions  of  Socialists;  and  that  the 
achievements  in  industry  and  commerce  which  have 
been  made  possible  by  the  progress  of  modern  science 
also  involve  the  establishment  of  Socialism  as  the  only 

1.    Ward:  Dynamic  Sociology,  Vol.  I.,  p.  2. 

210 


CHAP.  XVII  SCIENCE   AND  SOCIALISM  211 

means  by  which  such  achievements  can  bring  their 
benefits  to  the  whole  body  of  society. 

265.  The  Wickedness  of  Growth.— Formerly  it  was 
supposed  that  society  was  created  and  all  its  forms 
established  by  divine  authority.    The  divine  right  of 
kings  did  not  mean  that  the  king  alone  had  the  right 
to  rule  by  divine  authority.    It  meant,  as  well,  that  all 
civil  officers,  judges,  clerks,  all  priests  and  bishops  and 
all  classes  based  on  economic  advantages  were  also  of 
divine  authority,  while  the  helpless,  the  disinherited 
and  dispossessed  were  under  a  divine  obligation  to  be 
contented,  not  to  complain  at  their  lot,  but  to  patiently 
serve  those  believed  to  be  divinely  ordained  to  be  their 
masters. 

If  the  institutions  and  usages  of  society  were  at- 
tacked by  any  one,  the  answer  was  that,  however  hard 
or  seemingly  cruel  such  institutions  might  seem  to  be, 
they  were  the  divine  order,  and  that  whoever  com- 
plained was  a  blasphemer,  guilty  of  such  wickedness  as 
forfeited  his  right  to  live,  to  say  nothing  about  his 
right  to  be  heard. 

266.  Some  Old  Records.— The  old  records  give  the 
stories  of  whole  tribes  pitilessly  butchered  by  divine 
order.     Those  who  regarded  these  acts  as  examples 
worthy  to  be  followed  have  defended  these  particular 
acts  upon  the  ground  that,  while  they  seem  terrible  to 
us,  nevertheless,  the  God  who  gave  life  has  the  right  to 
take  it  away,  and  in  any  way  which  to  him  would  seem 
wisest  and  most  effective,  in  order  to  defend  or  estab- 
lish institutions  or  nations  which  are  to  exist  by  divine 
authority  and  with  divine  approval. 

267.  Recent  Investigations.— But  modern  science 
has  been  accurately  observing  the  remains  of  the  imple- 
ments, the  burial  places  and  the  monuments,  as  well  as 
tracing  the  origins  of  languages;  and  the  institutions 
which  these  origins  in  speech  and  remnants  of  imple- 


212  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

ments,  burial  places  and  monuments  reveal,  have  been 
found  to  be,  in  any  given  stage  of  human  development, 
practically  the  same  among  all  races  of  mankind.  Not 
only  was  Israel  commanded  to  exterminate  its  enemies, 
but  all  other  tribes  among  all  races  of  mankind  in  the 
same  stage  of  development  always  fought  under  simi- 
lar instructions  from  their  tribal  gods.  In  many  other 
particulars  it  has  been  found  that  the  tribes,  supposed 
to  be  acting  under  divine  direction,  developed  exactly 
the  same  institutions,  both  civil  and  military,  as  were 
developed  by  other  tribes  understood  to  have  been  act- 
ing under  divine  condemnation. 

268.  The  Law  of  Social  Growth.— The  law  of  social 
development  has  been  recognized  by  special  students  of 
these  matters  and  it  is  now  known  that  whatever  exists 
at  any  particular  period  has  been  developed  out  of  the 
institutions  which  previously  existed,  and  that  this  is 
true  of  all  nations,  regardless  of  the  form  of  religion 
adopted  by  any.    The  doctrine  of  the  divine  authority 
of  kings  can  have  no  standing  in  the  presence  of  mod- 
ern science,  nor  can  any  of  the  contentions  that  any  of 
the  institutions  of  modern  society  exist  under  such  di- 
vine sanction  as  would  make  it  sacrilegious  to  continue 
the  process  of  improvement,  which  has  been  going  on 
from  the  beginning,  have  further  serious  consideration. 

269.  The  Social  Compact.— More  than  one  hundred 
years  ago  the  doctrine  of  divine  authority  of  kings  was 
vigorously  attacked  and  some  new  basis  was  sought 
for  on  which  to  rest  the  authority  of  the  state.    The 
doctrine  of  the  social  compact  or  social  contract  was 
devised.    Under  this  doctrine  it  was  assumed  that  at 
some  time  or  other  the  people  in  any  given  community, 
either  in  form  or  in  effect,  had  come  to  an  agreement 
that  certain  usages  should  be  established,  certain  natu- 
ral rights  surrendered,  and  that  society  should  be 
organized  in  a  certain  way.    With  the  departure  of  the 


CHAP.  XVII  SCIENCE  AND   SOCIALISM  213 

divine  right  of  kings  there  came  into  being  the  conten- 
tion for  the  sacred  obligation  of  contracts.  In  actual 
practice  it  came  to  mean  that  whatever  exists  has,  in 
effect,  been  agreed  to,  and  that  to  propose  a  change  is 
a  violation  of  the  agreement ;  it  is  an  interference  with 
the  obligation  of  contracts.2 

270.  Taken  for  Granted.— Of  course,  it  was  rarely 
contended  that  the  people  living  at  any  given  time  had 
themselves  made  such  contracts;  only  some  one  who 
had  lived  before,  them  had  done  so,  and  that  the  con- 
tract, once  established  by  the  consent  of  somebody, 
must  forever  afterwards  bind  the  life  of  everybody,  or 
there  was  a  violation  of  contracts,  and  contracts  must 
not  be  violated.    It  involves  the  absurd  position  that 
vested  rights  granted  by  those  who  are  dead  may  not 
be  denied  by  those  who  are  living. 

271.  "Abrogation  of  Contracts."— In  the  United 
States  the  constitution   provides   the   manner   under 
which  it  may  be  amended,  but  it  provides  further  that 
any  law  involving  the  abrogation  of  contracts  shall  be 
void  and  without  force. 

The  Illinois  Trust  &  Savings  Bank  Company  of  Chi- 
cago, the  Kothschild  institution  of  that  city,  has  a 
charter  which  was  granted  to  a  small  country  bank 
prior  to  the  adoption  of  the  present  state  constitution. 
It  gave  the  old  corporation  permission  to  deal  in  real 
estate,  but  the  present  constitution  forbids  any  cor- 
poration in  Illinois  to  do  so.  But  the  living  people  of 
Illinois  have  no  authority,  even  by  changing  their  con- 
stitution, to  change  the  contracts  entered  into  by  the 
dead  people  of  Illinois  before  the  current  constitution 
was  adopted.  Under  the  divine  right  of  kings,  to 

2.  "Under  no  form  of  government  is  it  so  dangerous  to  erect  a, 
political  idol  as  in  a  Democratic  Republic,  for  once  erected,  it  is  a 
sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost  to  lay  hands  upon  it." — Von  Hoist,  quoted 
in  Annals  of  Toil,  p.  199. 

"The  psychologic  law  tends  to  reverse  the  biologic  law." — Ward: 
Psychic  Factors  in  Civilization,  p.  259. 


214  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

change  social  institutions  was  wicked;  under  the  cur- 
rent idea,  to  change  them  is  dishonest. 

272.  New  Life  Must  " Abrogate' '  Old  Forms.-But 
again,  'modern  science  has  established  that  no  institu- 
tions of  society  are  the  arbitrary  creations  of  any  com- 
pact or  contract  or  bargain  ever  made  by  any  group  of 
men,  at  aikv  time,  anywhere.  It  is  now  known  that 
these  compacts  were  never  established  until  such  con- 
ditions had  been  reached  in  the  growth  of  the  race  as 
made  the  continuance  of  the  old  forms  impossible  and 
the  existence  of  the  new  forms  inevitable.  In  other 
words,  it  was  the  growth  of  the  race  which  made  the 
contract,  or  the  constitution,  and  not  the  constitution 
which  made  the  growth  of  the  race. 

When  the  old  forms  have  gone  out  of  existence  and 
the  new  forms  have  come  into  being,  it  has  always  been 
in  the  midst  of  strife,  unless  the  old  forms  had  grown 
so  helpless  that  resistance  on  their  part  was  impossible. 
But  the  new  forms  never  made  terms  with  the  old. 
They  have  always  taken  possession  in  spite  of  the  old. 
They  have  done  so  by  force,  if  force  was  necessary. 

The  whole  story  of  human  history  has  been  one  of 
old  forms  outgrown.  The  new  forms  first  outgrew  and 
then  destroyed  the  older  ones.  These  changes  have 
always  been  in  the  line  of  industrial  and  social  needs. 
Wherever  degeneracy  in  public  institutions  has  taken 
place  it  has  always  been  because  economic  and  social 
conditions  have  outgrown  civil  and  political  institu- 
tions, and  the  degeneracy  has  ensued  as  the  result  of 
attempting  to  use  outgrown  forms  in  the  midst  of  con- 
ditions under  which  they  could  not  operate. 

It  is  seen,  therefore,  that  for  the  new  forms  to  appear, 
in  order  to  serve  the  new  life  already  developed,  is  not 
dishonorable;  it  is  no  more  the  violation  of  a  binding 
contract  than  for  a  living  tree  to  continue  growing 
though  the  dead  bark  about  it  cannot  grow  with  it  and 


CHAP.  XVII  SCIENCE  AND  SOCIALISM  215 

must  be  broken  by  the  process.  It  is  not  infamous  nor 
dishonest  to  abandon  the  old.  It  is  the  outright  be- 
trayal of  both  the  present  and  the  future  not  to  do  so. 

273.  Science— The   Shackle-Breaker.— Science  has 
unshackled  the  hands  bound  by  the  doctrine  of  the 
obligation  of  contracts.     Science  has  unshackled  the 
hands  bound  by  the  superstition  which  assumed  the 
divine  authority  of  the  old  and  proclaimed  the  sacrilege 
of  the  new.    Science  has  so  rewritten  civics  and  inter- 
preted religion  as  to  attach  both  wickedness  and  dis- 
honor to  whatever  effort  is  made  to  bind  the  new  life 
of  today  in  the  grave  clothes  of  yesterday. 

Monopoly,  tyranny  and  inequality  have  been  hiding 
behind  the  divine  right  to  rule  and  to  enslave  and  to 
rob.  Monopoly,  tyranny  and  inequality  have  been  hid- 
ing behind  the  sacredness  of  contracts.  Modern  science 
has  stripped  away  these  ancient  coverings  and  forces 
monopoly,  tyranny  and  inequality  to  justify  themselves 
regardless  of  divine  orders  or  of  "contracts  regularly 
signed,  sealed  and  delivered." 

Collectivism,  democracy  and  equality  may  now  have 
their  hearing  without  suffering  from  the  charge  of 
wickedness  or  the  sneer  of  dishonor.  By  thus  setting 
at  liberty  the  mind  of  man  to  deal  fearlessly  with  social 
problems,  modern  science  has  made  a  contribution  of 
'ncalculable  value  to  the  development  of  Socialism.3 

274.  Science  and  Inventions.— But  modern  science 
has  not  only  taken  the  "blind-fold"  from  his  eyes;  it 
has  furnished  the  tools  and  the  methods  of  thinking 
which  leads  the  student  of  social  and  economic  prob- 
lems inevitably  to  collectivism.    In  mechanics,  chem- 
istry and  electricity,  agriculture,  mining,  and  in  all 

3.  "The  scientific  achievements  of  the  human  intellect  no  longer 
occur  sporadically;  they  follow  one  upon  another,  like  the  organized 
and  systematic  conquests  of  a  resistless  army.  Each  new  discovery 
becomes  at  once  a  powerful  implement  in  the  hands  of  innumerable 
workers,  and  each  year  wins  over  fresh  regions  of  the  universe  from 
the  unknown  to  the  known." — Fiske :  The  Idea  of  God,  p.  49. 


216  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

lines  of  manufactures,  the  discoveries  of  science  bear 
an  important  relation  to  the  current  development  of 
industry  and  commerce.  In  all  these  it  has  had  a  large 
share  in  the  work  which  has  given  to  us  our  modern 
machinery.  But  the  modern  machinery  involves  social 
production,  the  benefits  of  which  can  never  come  to  the 
whole  body  of  society  so  long  as  capitalism  shall  last. 

275.  In  Manufactures.— The  automatic  machine  is 
making  production  more  and  more  an  automatic  proc- 
ess.   As  each  step  is  taken  the  worker  becomes  a  less 
important  factor  and  the  machine  assumes  new  and 
more  commanding  importance. 

The  great  steel  plants  maintain  great  laboratories, 
with  most  expensive  equipments,  and  have  the  most 
capable  chemists  continually  engaged  in  experiments, 
for  the  purpose  of  effecting  improvements  in  the  proc- 
esses of  production,  every  one  of  which  involves  the 
establishment  of  industry  on  a  larger  scale,  thus  mak- 
ing all  production  more  and  more  social  production,  all 
of  which  are  steps  in  the  growth  which  makes  the  com- 
ing of  Socialism  inevitable.4 

Electricity,  for  example,  cannot  be  used  individu- 
ally. All  of  its  advantages  depend  upon  its  use  by 
many  people  at  the  same  time.  This  means  that  with 
this  social  use  the  exercise  of  equal  rights  on  the  part 
of  all  the  people  in  the  advantages  so  secured  cannot 
be  long  postponed. 

276.  In   Agriculture.— In   agriculture   the    special 
training  provided  by  the  schools  in  agriculture  has 
reached  but  a  small  percentage  of  the  actual  workers 

4.  "The  bourgeoisie,  during  its  rule  of  scarce  one  hundred  years, 
has  created  more  massive  and  more  colossal  productive  forces  than 
have  all  preceding  generations  together.  Subjection  of  nature's  forces 
to  man,  machinery,  application  of  chemistry  to  industry  and  agricul- 
ture, steam  navigation,  railways,  electric  telegraphs,  clearing  of  whole 
continents  for  cultivation,  canalization  of  rivers,  whole  populations 
conjured  out  of  the  ground — what  earlier  century  had  even  a  presenti- 
ment that  such  productive  forces  slumbered  in  the  lap  of  social  labor?" 
— Marx  and  Engels:  Communist  Manifesto,  p.  20. 


CHAP.  XVII  SCIENCE  AND  SOCIALISM  217 

on  the  land,  but  every  such  step  involves  larger  capital 
and  more  perfect  organization.  Science  cannot  be 
applied  to  agriculture  in  the  most  effective  manner, 
except  agriculture  shall  be  carried  on  on  a  larger  scale 
than  is  possible  under  individual  self -employment,  and 
if  carried  on  under  effective  organization,  its  benefits 
can  accrue  to  the  whole  body  of  society  only  by  the 
establishment  of  Socialism. 

277.  Growing  Toward  Socialism.— Wherever  mod- 
ern science  has  touched  the  industry  and  commerce  of 
modern  life  it  has  shown  the  old  methods  of  organiza- 
tion, the  old  schemes  of  distribution,  the  old  forms  of 
capitalistic  enterprise,  to  be  fatal  to  the  interests  of  the 
whole  body  of  the  people.    Each  step  in  the  advance 
of  science  as  applied  to  the  industry  and  commerce  of 
the  world  is  a  nearer   approach   to   the    coming   of 
Socialism. 

This  is  true  because  capitalism  involves  the  monop- 
oly of  the  great  achievements,  and  their  operation 
through  industrial  tyranny  and  the  creating  and  en- 
forcing of  conditions  of  great  inequality. 

Socialism  is  hurried  nearer  by  each  step  in  the  ad- 
vance of  science,  because  the  advantages  of  these 
achievements  can  be  realized  by  all  only  under  collec- 
tivism, administered  by  an  industrial  democracy,  and 
with  equal  opportunities  for  all  to  become  the  users 
of  the  great  equipments  and  organizations  which  scien- 
tific methods  of  production  are  bringing  into  all  of  the 
processes  by  which  the  means  of  life  may  be  produced. 

278.  Sanitary  Science.— The  same  is  true  of  sani- 
tary science.  Sanitary  conditions  cannot  be  maintained 
on  single  city  lots.    With  the  departure  of  Spanish! 
control  from  Havana  and  the  application  of  sanitary 
science  to  Havana,  the  yellow  fever  departed  and  did 
not  return.    Sanitary  science  is  conclusively  establish- 
ing that  contagious  and  infectious  diseases  may  be 


218  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PABT  III 

driven  off  the  earth  if  the  people  so  will;  but  this  can 
be  undertaken  in  no  small,  individualistic  way. 

Capitalism  can  find  no  sufficient  reward  in  annual 
dividends  for  draining  great  swamps,  for  cleaning  up 
and  disinfecting  whole  states  and  for  going  round  the 
world,  if  necessary,  to  clean  out  the  plague  spots  from 
which  world- wide  contagion  has  repeatedly  carried  the 
plagues  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

Sanitary  science  emphasizes  the  common  life  and  the 
common  dependence  of  all  peoples  everywhere  upon 
each  other,  as  does  no  other  single  fact  known  to  man; 
but  capitalism  looking  for  dividends  is  helpless,  and 
only  the  whole  race  caring  for  itself  will  be  able  to  meet 
a  problem  so  great  and  secure  advantages  so  lasting 
as  the  sanitary  campaign  which  must  be  undertaken  in 
the  near  future,  and  which  will  make  the  business  of 
the  race  for  a  generation  the  removal  of  those  seeds  of 
disease  which  every  year  doom  to  such  needless 
slaughter  those  who  cannot  be  defended  from  diph- 
theria, typhoid,  smallpox  and  the  bubonic  plague,  so 
long  as  capitalism  shall  last.5 

5.  "But  our  problem  was  whether  it  is  possible  for  society  to 
improve  itself.  Society  is  simply  a  compound  organism  whose  acts 
exhibit  the  resultant  of  all  the  individual  forces  which  its  members 
exert.  These  acts,  whether  individual  or  collective,  obey  fixed  laws. 
Objectively  viewed,  society  is  a  natural  object,  presenting  a  variety 
of  complicated  movements  produced  by  a  particular  class  of  natural 
forces.  The  question,  therefore,  simply  is,  Can  man  ever  control  these 
forces  to  his  advantage  as  he  controls  other,  and  some  very  compli- 
cated, natural  forces?  Is  it  true  that  man  shall  ultimately  obtain 
the  dominion  of  the  whole  world  except  himself?  I  regard  society 
and  the  social  forces  as  constituting  just  as  much  a  legitimate  field 
for  the  exercise  of  human  ingenuity  as  do  the  various  material  sub- 
stances and  physical  forces.  The  latter  have  been  investigated  and 
subjugated.  The  former  are  still  pursuing  their  wild,  unbridled  course. 
The  latter  still  exist,  still  exhibit  their  indestructible  dynamic  tenden- 
cies, still  obey  the  Newtonian  laws  of  motion,  still  operate  along 
the  lines  of  least  resistance.  But  man,  by  teleological  foresight,  has 
succeeded  in  harmonizing  these  lines  of  least  resistance  with  those 
of  greatest  advantage  to  himself.  He  has  winds,  the  waters,  fire,  steam 
and  electricity  do  his  bidding.  All  nature  both  animate  and  inani- 
mate, has  been  reduced  to  his  service.  One  field  alone  remains  un- 
subdued. One  class  of  natural  forces  still  remains  the  play  of  chance, 
and  from  it  he  is  constantly  receiving  the  most  serious  check.  This 


CHAP.  XVII  SCIENCE   AXD   SOCIALISM  219 

Not  so  long  as  the  poverty  and  neglect  of  the  back 
alley  remain  can  the  child  of  the  boulevard  be  secure 
from  harm.  Not  so  long  as  half  the  race  goes  to  sleep 
each  night  with  hunger  only  partly  satisfied  can  any 
portion  of  the  race  be  safe  from  the  plagues  which  feed 
upon  those  whose  vitality  is  of  the  lowest  order. 
I  Monopoly  cannot  provide  security,  even  for  the  mon- 
opolists, from  the  crimes,  the  disasters,  and  the  con- 
tagions which  monopolists  cause  for  others  and  are 
not  altogether  able  to  escape  from  themselves.  The 
foulest  atmosphere  and  the  disease  germs,  like  all  the 
rest  of  nature,  are  no  respecters  of  persons.  Every  step 
in  sanitary  science  is  a  step  away  from  the  monopoly, 
tyranny  and  inequality  of  capitalism— a  drawing  near- 
er of  the  triumph  of  Socialism. 

279.  Science  and  Crime.— Science  has  also  under- 
taken the  study  of  crime.  It  has  carefully  investi- 
gated the  cranial  malformations  which  are  character- 
istic of  the  various  classes  of  criminals.  It  has  estab- 


field  is  that  of  society  itself,  these  unreclaimed  forces  are  the  social 
forces,  of  whose  nature  man  seems  to  possess  no  knowledge,  whose 
very  existence  he  persistently  ignores  and  which  he  consequently  is 
powerless  to  control.  *  *  * 

•^  Again  the  defenders  of  laissez  faire  will  object  that  society  has 
always  done  better  when  let  alone;  that  all  efforts  to  improve  the 
moral  or  material  condition  of  society  by  legislation  and  kindred 
means  have  not  only  been  inoperative,  but  have,  in  the  majority  of 
cases,  done  positive  harm,  often  to  the  very  cause  they  were  intended 
to  subserve. 

"If  it  could  be  proved  that  they  had  always  been  absolutely 
inoperative  the  case  would,  perhaps,  be  somewhat  discouraging;  but, 
if  they  can  be  shown  to  have  had  an  evil  effect,  this  is  all  we  can 
hope  or  desire.  For  if  they  can  do  harm,  then  they  can  do  something, 
and  nothing  is  left  but  to  make  them  do  good.  Legislation  (I  use  the 
term  in  the  most  general  sense)  is  nothing  else  but  invention.  It  is 
an  effort  so  to  control  the  forces  of  a  state  as  to  secure  the  greatest 
benefits  to  its  people.  But  these  forces  are  social  forces,  and  the 
people  are  the  members  of  society.  As  matters  now  are  and  have 
thus  far  been,  government,  in  so  far  as  the  improvement  of  society  is 
concerned,  has  been  to  a  great  extent  a  failure.  It  has  done  good 
service  in  protecting  the  operation  of  the  natural  dynamic  forces,  and 
for  this  it  should  receive  due  credit.  But  it  has  also  to  be  charged 
with  a  long  account  of  opposition  to  science  and  oppression  of  aspiring 
humanity." — Ward:  Dynamic  Sociology,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  35-37. 


220  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

listed  that  the  Socialists  have  been  mistaken  in  assum- 
ing that  the  crimes  against  property  will  utterly  dis- 
appear with  the  coming  of  Socialism,  but  it  has  also 
established  that  when  crime  is  not  the  direct  result  of 
bad  social  and  economic  conditions,  it  is  the  result  of 
mental  malformations  which  are  themselves  the  result 
of  inheritances  from  earlier  social  disorders.  No  gen- 
eration can  remedy  for  itself  the  mental  misfortunes 
which  it  has  inherited  from  the  past.  These  matters 
can  be  effected  only  through  a  series  of  generations  in 
which  each  shall  act,  not  for  itself,  but  for  its  offspring. 

Under  capitalism  the  whole  force  of  society,  so  far 
as  related  to  industry  and  commerce,  is  controlled  with 
a  view  to  securing  dividends  in  time  for  the  next  semi- 
annual settlement  with  the  stockholders.  The  range 
of  its  activities  is  too  narrow  and  the  range  of  its  mo- 
tives is  too  limited  for  so  great  an  undertaking.  Under 
Socialism,  the  whole  industrial  and  commercial  life  of 
the  world  will  be  organized,  not  for  immediate  divi- 
dends, but  for  the  purpose  of  serving  the  whole  life  of 
man;  and  no  future  will  be  too  distant,  and  no  problem 
too  great  for  society  to  undertake,  when  the  strength 
or  purity  or  sanity  of  its  children  is  involved.6 

280.  Conscious  Selection  and  Desired  Survivals.— 
It  has  been  contended,  however,  that  modern  science, 


6.  "The  next  question  that  naturally  arises  is,  what  special  change 
takes  place  in  the  material  and  social  conditions  to  render  a  further 
advance  in  civilization  possible  at  any  given  point?  Now,  to  answer 
this  question  aright,  it  is  desirable,  perhaps,  at  the  outset  to  get  a 
clear  idea  of  what  an  advance  in  civilization  really  means.  If,  there- 
fore, we  consider  the  various  stages  through  which  the  world  has 
passed  in  its  progress  from  barbarism  up  to  the  present  time,  we 
shall  find  that  the  movement  of  what  is  called  civilization  has  been 
along  two  distinct  lines — the  one  an  upright,  vertical  line;  the  other 
a  lateral,  horizontal  one.  The  upright,  vertical  movement  is  seen  in 
the  gradual  rise  of  men's  ideals  from  .that  of  prowess  and  mere  brute 
force  and  mere  brute  courage,  which  was  the  ideal  in  the  early  life 
of  all  peoples  (and  still  is  so  in  the  lowest  savage  races),  up  through 
the  times  when  military  strategy,  cunning,  and  diplomacy  shared  with 
personal  courage  men's  admiration,  onward  to  the  present  day,  when 


CHAP  XVII  SCIENCE    AND    SOCIALISM  221 

instead  of  so  defending  Socialism,  has  proven  its  the- 
ories false  and  its  proposals  altogether  impracticable 
and  impossible,  because  it  is  said  modern  science  has 
established  that  the  growth  of  the  race  has  been 
through  an  age-long  struggle  in  which  the  fittest  only 
has  survived,  and  that,  inasmuch  as  man  has  be$n  made 
great  and  strong  as  he  is  under  the  law  of  the  sur- 
vival of  the  fittest  in  the  midst  of  the  struggle  for 
existence,  that  if  this  struggle  shall  be  interfered  with, 
the  degeneracy  of  the  race  will  necessarily  be  the  result. 
Socialism,  it  is  said,  is  an  effort  to  provide,  in  de- 
fiance of  the  law  of  nature,  for  the  survival  of  the  un- 
fittest.  But  the  fact  is  that  the  survival  of  the  fittest 


the  most  serious  sections  of  the  most  civilized  nations  have  as  their 
ideal  that  intellectual  power,  which,  in  its  many  different  aspects, 
has  produced  all  that  is  great  and  admirable  in  civil  and  national 
life.  Except  among  the  lowest  savage  races  and  the  lowest  class  in 
civilized  communities,  mere  physical  prowess  as  an  ideal  may  be  said 
to  have  completely  passed  away;  the  military  ideal,  too,  with  all  its 
accompaniments,  is  fast  dying  out  ,m  spite  of  its  temporary  recrudes- 
cence among  some  of  the  foremost  nations,  owing  to  material  and 
political  necessities;  and  now,  mental  power,  in  its  many  various 
applications,  whether  as  practical  wisdom,  political  sagacity,  artistic, 
literary,  or  philosophical  power,  is  supreme.  But  besides  the  upward 
movement  which  characterizes  advancing  civilization — the  rise  in 
men's  ideals — we  note  a  lateral  horizontal  movement  as  seen  in  the 
more  equable  administration  of  justice,  the  wider  area  for  intellect, 
of  knowledge,  the  wider  extension  of  liberty  and  equality.  Carrying 
with  us  this  double  movement,  viz.,  the  upward  rise  of  Ideals  and  the 
lateral  extension  of  Justice  and  Right — as  that  by  which  advancing 
civilization  is  characterized,  it  will  be  expedient,  if  we  wish  to  find 
out  what  changes  take  place  in  the  material  and  social  conditions  of 
the  world  to  render  successive  advances  in  civilization  possible,  to 
follow  the  rule  laid  down  in  the  chapter  on  History,  and  instead  of 
groping  blindly  through  the  mazes  of  historical  detail,  to  look  rather 
for  the  cue  to  what  we  want  in  the  world  of  today,  in  the  full  assur- 
ance that  if  we  can  discover  the  conditions  that  render  progress  possi- 
ble today  in  a  world  which  we  know  and  can  directly  inspect  the  same 
must  have  been  true  in  the  days  of  Moses,  of  Caesar,  of  Charlemagne — 
days  that  we  cannot  directly  inspect  and  that  we  do  not  and  can  never 
really  know. 

"If,  then,  we  look  fixedly  into  what  actually  takes  place  around 
us,  we  shall  find  that  the  first  condition  of  progress  and  develop- 
ment, of  free,  unimpeded  growth  and  expansion,  whether  among  indi- 
viduals, classes,  or  nations,  lies  in  the  practical  equalization  of  the 
Material  and  Social  conditions  under  which  they  live." — Crozier: 
Civilization  and  Progress,  pp.  396-97. 


222  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

does  not  mean  the  survival  of  the  worthiest,  but  always 
the  survival  of  the  one  best  fitted  to  whatever  the  en- 
vironment may  be,  altogether  regardless  of  the  char- 
acter of  the  life  which  survives. 

The  law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  is  not  that  the 
fittest  is  the  worthiest,  but  only  that  it  is  best  adapted 
to  the  conditions  under  which  it  struggles  for  exist- 
ence. 

281.  Uncultivated  Fruits.— The  wild  fruits  are  de- 
veloped  under  the  operation   of   this   law  of  natural 
selection  and  the  survival  of  the  best  adapted— the  best 
fitted  to  the  conditions.    The  improved  fruits  have  been 
developed  from  them,  not  by  a  violation  of  the  law  of 
the  survival  of  the  fittest,  but  by  comprehending  the 
law,  and  by  a  more  complete  obedience  to  the  law,  in 
such  a  way  that  the  operation  of  the  law  itself  has  been 
able  to  produce  the  marvelous  results  of  conscious  se- 
lection as  applied  to  the  growth  of  fruits. 

282.  Uncultivated  Grains.— The  same  is  true  of  im- 
proved cereals  and  of  high  grades  of  stock.    It  has  not 
been  by  the  violation  of  the  law  of  the  survival  of  the 
fittest;  it  has  not  been  by  attempting  by  chance  to  se- 
cure a  grade  of  cattle  which  will  be  able  to  survive 
under  the  old  environments  of  neglect  and  exposure 
and  scanty  food,  and  indiscriminate  and  promiscuous 
sex  selection.    It  has  been  by  carefully  guarding  all 
these  points  and  creating  an  environment  under  which 

"In  the  historical  period  the  Graeco-Latin  society  struggled  for 
civil  equality  (the  abolition  of  slavery)  ;  it  triumphed,  but  it  did  not 
halt,  because  to  live  is  to  struggle;  the  society  of  the  middle  ages 
struggled  for  religious  equality;  it  won  the  battle,  but  it  did  not  halt; 
and  at  the  end  of  the  last  century  it  struggled  for  political  equality. 
Must  it  now  halt  and  remain  stationary  in  the  present  state  of  prog- 
ress? Today  society  struggles  for  economic  equality,  not  for  an 
absolute  material  equality,  but  for  that  more  practical,  truer  equality 
of  which  I  have  already  spoken.  And  all  the  evidence  enables  us  to 
foresee  with  mathematical  certainty  that  this  victory  will  be  won 
to  give  place  to  new  struggles  and  to  new  ideals  among  our  descend- 
ants."— Ferri :  Socialism  and  Modern  Science,  p.  39. 


CHAP.  XVII  SCIENCE     AND     SOCIALISM  223 

more  desirable  forms  would  have  an  opportunity  to 
survive  that  such  advance  has  been  made  possible. 

283.  Uncultivated  Men.— Now,  the  same  is  true  of 
human  beings.    Where  capitalistic  conditions  prevail, 
there  those  are  most  likely  to  survive  who  are  not 
troubled  by  conscientious  scruples,  who  have   strong 
arms,    strong    brains    and    hard     hearts— conditions 
where  whoever  hesitates  to  strike  hard  whatever  befall 
another  will  strike  in  vain. 

284.  Conscious  Selection  and  Socialism.— Is  it  not 
possible  to  be  wise  enough  in  the  effort  to  obey  this 
law  of  life,  this  doctrine  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest, 
in  the  midst  of  the  struggle  for  existence,  where  men 
are  involved,  to  so  organize  society  that  under  the  con- 
ditions under  which  all  men  shall  live,  the  noble  life 
may  be  the  best  fitted  to  such  an  environment  and  so 
at  last  have  the  chance  to  survive? 

In  fact,  the  whole  doctrine  of  the  race  growth  under 
the  struggle  for  existence  teaches  to  the  masses  of  men 
that  if  they  are  to  survive  at  all,  as  free  men,  they  will 
struggle  none  the  less  earnestly,  while  more  effectively, 
by  joining  hands  in  using  together  the  machinery,  the 
organization,  the  resources  of  nature  which  singly  and 
alone  they  cannot  use,  and  which,  jointly  used,  can  be 
used  for  the  benefit  of  all  only  under  Socialism. 

Under  Socialism  all  men  may  struggle  for  the  attain- 
ment of  intellectual  and  social  excellences  if  they  will. 
They  can  no  longer  rob  each  other  of  the  opportunity 
..to  live,  whether  they  wish  to  do  so  or  not.  The  intel- 
ligence of  one  does  not  mean  that  another  must  be 
foolish,  the  strength  of  one  that  another  must  be  weak, 
the  beauty  of  one  that  another  must  be  ugly,  the  art  of 
one  that  another's  possessions  must  be  ill-formed,  the 
social  joy  of  one  that  another  must  be  in  distress— in 
all  these  the  success  of  one  is  in  no  way  the  result  of 
the  failure  of  any  other. 


224  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

285.  Summary.— 1.  Modern  science  has  destroyed 
the  doctrine  of  divine  authority  of  social  institutions 
and  the  doctrine  of  the  lasting  obligation  of  any  con- 
tract which  is  in  violation  of  the  common  good. 

2.  Modern  science  has  established  the  fact  that  so- 
cial institutions  are  a  natural  growth  and  that  to  at- 
tempt to  perpetuate  outgrown  institutions  involves  the 
betrayal  of  both  the  present  and  of  the  future. 

3.  Modern  science  has  made  great  contributions  to 
the  equipment  and  to  the  improved  processes  of  pro- 
duction.   These  equipments  and  processes  are  of  such 
a  nature  that  the  joint  use  of  them  is  necessary  and 
therefore  make  production  more  and  more  a  matter  of 
social  and  not  an  individual  concern. 

4.  Sanitary  science  can  never  complete  its  work 
except  on  a  scale  which  cannot  be  undertaken  under 
enterprises  conducted  for  the  profit  of  stockholders  in 
private  enterprises. 

5.  The  science  of  criminology  establishes  that  crimes 
which  are  not  the  result  of  present  social  conditions, 
which  must  remain  so  long  as  capitalism  lasts,  are  the 
result  of  mental  conditions  which  can  be  remedied  only 
by  a  series  of  generations  under  improved  conditions 
—conditions  which  can  come  only  under  Socialism. 

6.  The  law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  demands 
that  social  conditions  shall  be  of  such  a  nature  that 
the  worthiest  to  survive  shall  also  be  fitted  to  the  con- 
ditions under  which  they  must  survive,  if  at  all.    The 
industrial  and  commercial  conditions  now  are  of  such  a 
nature  that   only  the  unscrupulous  and  socially  un- 
worthy are  best  fitted  to  survive  under  them. 

7.  Under  socialism  the  struggle  for  existence  where 
one  succeeds  at  another's  loss,  will  change  to  a  strug- 
gle for  a  better  existence  in  which  the  achievements 
of  one  will  not  depend  on  the  loss  of  others. 


CHAP.  XVII  SCIENCE    AND     SOCIALISM  225 

REVIEW   QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  is  meant  by  the  word  "science"? 

2.  What  are  the  two  points  which  this  chapter  seeks  to  establish? 

3.  What  was  formerly  held  to  be  the  basis  of  political  authority? 

4.  What  was  thought  of  any  efforts  to  improve  society? 

5.  How  was   it   finally   discovered  that   peoples   supposed  to  be 
acting  under  divine  authority  created  the  same  institutions  as  those 
supposed  to  be  acting  under  divine  condemnation? 

6.  How  has  it  been  established  that  to  change  social  forms  is 
not  sacrilegious? 

7.  What    other    doctrine    has    succeeded    to   the    place    formerly 
held  by  the  divine  right  of  kings? 

8.  How   does   the    Constitution   of   the   United   States   deny   the 
divine   right   of  kings   theory   and   assert   the   social   compact  theory 
in  its  place? 

9.  On  what  ground  does  the  Illinois  Trust  &  Savings  Company 
Bank  continue  to  do  business  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  Illinois? 

10.  If  contracts  and  constitutions  do  not  create  social  changes, 
then  by  what  forces  are  they  created? 

11.  If  wickedness  and  dishonor  do  not  attach  to  those  proposing 
improvements,  to  whom  do  they  attach  in  the  times  of  great  social 
changes  ? 

12.  How  is  modern   science   related  to   steel   plants,   electricity, 
agriculture  and  the  whole  field  of  industry  as  related  to  machinery? 

13.  Why  do  these  developments  require  Socialism  in  order  that 
the  benefits  may  be  for  all  ? 

14.  Why  does  sanitary  science  require  the  coming  of  Socialism? 

15.  In  what   way  is   the   science  of  criminology  related  to  the 
coming  of  Socialism  ? 

16.  Does  the  law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  support  or  oppose 
the  proposals  of  Socialists?    Why? 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

MACHINE  PRODUCTION  AND  COLLECTIVISM 

286.  Aristotle  on  Machinery.— Aristotle  said  that 
slavery  could  not  be  abolished  without  the  destruction 
of  society,  unless,  perhaps,  some  machine  could  be  de- 
vised which  could  undertake  the  drudgery  of  toil.    The 
era  of  invention  has  realized  the  suggestion  of  Aris- 
totle.   Not  some  machine  to  take  the  place  of  the  man, 
but  a  multitude  of  machines,  each  in  its  turn  either  tak- 
ing the  place  of  the  worker  altogether,  or  multiplying 
his  productive  powers  many  fold,  have  done  away 
with  the  last  possible  necessity  for  destructive  human 
labor.1 

287.  Joint  Ownership  and  Use.— But  in  the  creation 
of  this  machinery  the  use  of  great  wealth  is  necessary, 

1.  "If  every  tool,  when  summoned,  or  even  of  its  own  accord,  could 
do  the  work  that  befits  it,  just  as  the  creations  of  Daedalus  moved 
of  themselves,  or  the  tripods  of  Hephaestos  went  of  their  own  accord; 
if  the  weavers'  shuttles  were  to  weave  of  themselves,  then  there 
would  be  no  need  of  apprentices  for  the  master  workers  or  slaves  for 
the  lords." — Aristotle:  Pol.  A,  iv.,  4. 

"The  power  capable  of  being  exerted  by  the  steam  engines  of  the 
world  in  existence  and  working  in  the  year  1887  has  been  estimated 
by  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  at  Berlin  as  equivalent  to  that  of  200,000,- 
000  horses,  representing  approximately  1,000,000,000,  or  at  least  three 
times  the  working  population  of  the  earth,  whose  total  number  of 
inhabitants  is  probably  1,460,000,000.  The  application  and  use  of 
steam  up  to  date  (1889)  has  accordingly  more  than  trebled  man's 
working  power,  and  by  enabling  him  to  economize  his  physical 

226 


CHAP.  XVIII  MACHINE   PRODUCTION  227 

and,  as  has  been  seen  in  Chapter  IX.,  this  great  wealth 
has  been  provided  by  the  joint  possessions  or  savings 
of  many  people.  The  use  of  machinery  also  involves 
great  organizations  of  workers,  and  thus  machine  pro- 
duction is  seen  to  be  necessarily  associated,  or  social 
production.  It  was  impossible  that  joint  production 
should  be  carried  on  without  joint  interests  in  produc- 
tion. If  joint  or  collective  interest  in  production  had 

strength  has  given  him  greater  leisure,  comfort  and  abundance,  and 
also  greater  opportunity  for  the  mental  training  which  is  essential  to  a 
higher  development.  And  yet  it  is  certain  that  four-fifths  of  the  steam 
engines  now  working  in  the  world  have  been  constructed  in  the  last 
quarter  of  a  century,  or  since  1865." — Wells:  Recent  Economic 
Changes,  p.  44. 

"About  the  year  1770  began  to  appear  a  remarkable  series  of 
inventions  which  ushered  in  what  we  may  consider  the  modern  era 
of  industrial  organization.  They  included  Watt's  development  of  the 
steam  engine  to  a  practical  form,  and  some  far-reaching  innovations 
in  the  processes  of  the  textile  manufactures  chief  among  which  were 
the  spinning  frame  and  the  spinning  jenny. 

"The  immediate  practical  results  of  these  were  highly  important. 
The  factory  system  almost  immediately  sprang  into  vigorous  life  as 
their  first  fruits.  But  still  more  important  was  the  fact  that  the 
process  of  development  thus  started  has  ever  since  been  steadily  going 
on,  and  generally  at  a  constantly  accelerating  rate.,  It  is  in  these 
closing  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  proceeding  with  a  rapidity 
and  energy  never  exceeded,  and  no  one  who  understands  the  volume 
of  the  forces  which  are  operating  to  produce  it  would  undertake  to 
form  the  slightest  conception  of  its  ultimate  limits. 

"A  century  of  this  process  of  development  produced  results  almost 
beyond  conception.  This  century  brings  us  down  to  the  year  1870 — 
a  time  fresh  in  the  memory  of  many  who  still  consider  themselves 
young.  Of  course,  these  results  as  embodied  in  the  status  of  society 
at  this  latter  period  are  not  difficult  of  comprehension  in  a  general 
way.  They  were  in  the  main  the  same  as  those  we  now  see  around 
us.  But  the  vastness  of  the  distance  which  society  had  moved  in 
that  century,  and  the  magnitude  and  wonder  of  the  achievement,  can 
only  be  comprehended  after  a  close  study  of  the  details  involved — 
if,  indeed,  the  human  mind  be  at  all  adequate  for  such  a  task.  The 
railroad,  steamboat  and  telegraph;  the  processes  of  lithography  and 
photography;  the  rotary  printing  press,  the  Jacquard  loom,  the  Four- 
drinier  paper  machine;  the  cotton  gin,  the  sewing  machine,  the  reap- 
ing machine, — these  are  but  the  beginning  of  the  story.  They  are 
the  striking  landmarks  of  the  triumphal  progress,  known  to  all  the 
people,  and  each  one  of  vast  importance.  But  hardly  less  important 
in  the  aggregate  than  those  (and  similar  other)  works  of  genius, 
and  even  more  characteristic  of  the  period,  is  the  multitude  of  minor 
inventions  which  were  during  this  century  applied  to  and  which  pow- 
erfully affected  every  branch  of  industry.  The  whole  vast  aggre- 
gate of  the  forces  of  production  was  multiplied  many  times  in  effec- 


228  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 


never  n^n  suggested  before  the  joint  ownership  and 
joint  use  of  the  great  machines,  the  joint  use  of  the  ma- 
chinery in  the  processes  of  production,  and  the  neces- 
sity for  a  wide  market  in  order  to  dispose  of  the  goods 
would  have  made  the  suggestion  and  enforced  the 
necessity  for  such  an  arrangement. 

288.  Co-operation  Necessary.—  Collectivism  was  a 
necessity  in  the  primitive  struggle  for  existence,  main- 
ly for  reasons  of  defense.     Machine  production  is  a 
necessity,  not  so  much  for  defensive  reasons  as  because 
of  its  greater  productive  possibilities.    But  just  as  the 
necessities  of  defense  made  primitive  man  a  co-oper- 
ator, so  the  advantages  of  a  greater  production  compel 
co-operation  under  the  machine.  * 

289.  Drudgery   Unnecessary.—  Under   the   use    of 
rude  tools,  each  worker  could  own  his  own  tools  and 
largely  use  his  own  products.    Association  in  owner- 
ship, in  production,  or  in  disposing  of  the  product,  was 
not  so  necessary  as  under  the  use  of  modern  machinery. 
Personal  interest  in  the  struggle  for  supremacy  under 
capitalism  has  carried  the  equipment  of  labor  to  a  point 


tiveness  by  the  children  of  man's  mind,  and  the  machinery  which  did 
their  bidding  at  almost  every  point  immeasurably  outstripped  in  speed 
and  deftness  the  unaided  human  hand. 

"We  are  all  tolerably  familiar  with  the  state  of  things  in  1870. 
Let  us  painfully  try  to  realize  what  it  was  a  century  before.  Strike 
out,  in  imagination,  the  railroad,  steamboat,  telegraph,  and  all  our 
modern  wonder-workers;  bring  back  the  hand-loom  and  the  spinning- 
wheel;  think  of  the  slow  canal-boats,  and  the  heavily  laden  wagons  toil- 
ing through  the  muddy  roads,  as  the  sole  dependence  for  internal  com- 
merce. It  is  a  far  cry  from  that  ancient  day  to  this  recent  one. 
What  shall  we  say  is  the  difference  in  productive  power  between  the 
two  systems?  How  much  more  could  a  million  men  working  in  the 
modern  way  produce  than  a  million  workers  of  the  olden  times? 

"It  is  a  subject  too  vast  for  even  an  approximate  estimate.  No 
man  knows,  or  can  know,  with  any  approach  to  accuracy.  We  have 
seen  several  estimates  on  this  point  from  trained  economists.  The 
smallest  comparative  value  assigned  by  any  one  of  them  to  the 
power  of  the  modern  way  was  five-fold  that  of  the  ancient.  Inade- 
quate, indeed,  this  seems  to  us;  the  general  estimate  also  is  con- 
siderably higher — nearer  twenty-fold." — Ferris:  Pauperizing  the  Rich, 
PB-  125-127.  — ' 


CHAP.  XVIII  MACHINE    PRODUCTION  229 

where  it  lias  attained  the  greatest  efficiency.  Just  as 
the  machine  was  necessary  to  bear  the  larger  share  of 
the  drudgery  of  toil,  if  human  beings  were  to  be  de- 
livered from  the  drudgery  of  toil,  so  the  greatest  per- 
fection of  machinery  means  that  the  greatest  possible 
deliverance  of  the  toiler  from  the  long  hours  and  hard 
tasks  of  productive  industry  is  also  possible.  This 
service  capitalism  has  rendered,  for  under  capitalism 
the  equipment  of  industry  not  only  makes  necessary 
social  use,  but  under  capitalism  the  machinery  itself 
has  been  brought  to  great  perfection. 

290.  Machinery  and  the  World-Market.— The  ma- 
chinery has  made  necessary  the  foreign  market  for  sur- 
plus products,  and  the  search  for  foreign  markets  and 
for  cheap  raw  materials  has  sounded  every  sea  and  has 
drawn  the  industrial  maps  of  all  the  countries  of  the 
earth.    In  this,  capitalism  has  obtained  the  knowledge 
of  the  earth's  resources  and  connected,  for  the  most  ef- 
fective use  in  this  process  of  production,  each  separate 
portion  of  the  earth.    The  one  world-market  is  being 
rapidly  followed  by  the  one  world-organization  of  in- 
dustry, by  which  every  natural  resource  and  every  ad- 
vantage of  soil  and  climate  will  be  used  to  the  very 
best  advantage  in  providing  the  necessities  and  com- 
forts of  life.     All  this  helps  to  make  unnecessary  the 
brutalizing  drudgery  of  modern  industry. 

291.  Concentration  of  Private  Ownership.— If  it 
had  been  possible  that  all  these  achievements  could 
have  been  brought  about  without  the  concentration  of 
capital  in  few  hands,  it  would  have  left  great  multi- 
tudes of  people  personally  interested  in  the  perpetua- 
tion of  capitalism  because   of  the   great  numbers  of 
those  holding  private  ownership  in  the  means  of  pro- 
duction who  would  then  have  remained  owners  under 
the  present  order  of  things, 


230  THE   EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

292.  Easy  Transition  to  Collective  Ownership.— 
Some  years  ago  the  problem  of  the  transition  from  cap- 
italism to  Socialism  was  regarded  as  a  most  difficult 
one,  because  of  the  great  number  of  private  owners 
who  would  be  opposed,  on  account  of  private  interests, 
to  the  establishment  of  the  co-operative  commonwealth. 
But  capitalism  has  not  only  been  perfecting  and  ex- 
tending the  equipment  of  industry  and  the  knowledge 
of  the  wide  world's  resources;  it  has  also  been  effecting 
the  concentration  which  leaves  an  ever-lessening  num- 
ber of  people  personally  interested  in  the  perpetuation 
of  capitalism,  while  it  increases,  by  the  same  ratio,  the 
number  of  those  personally  interested,  because  of  per- 
sonal benefits,  in  the  establishment  of  Socialism. 

293.  A  Hired  Management.— Again  this  concentra- 
tion in  the  ownership  of  the  means  of  production  is 
perfecting  the  completest  possible  organization  of  the 
great  industries.    The  capitalist  owner  can  now  hire, 
not  only  the  labor  to  do  the  lifting  and  carrying,  but 
the  superintendence  of  production  and  the  marketing 
of  the  products  have  also  become  the  functions  of  the 
" hired  man."    Under  complete  capitalism,  the  capi- 
talist renders  no  service  whatever.    Even  his  service 
in  management  at  last  becomes  a  hired  service.2    He 

2.  "In  the  factory  system  the  evolution  towards  parasitism  goes 
its  way  in  open  daylight,  and  under  a  variety  of  forms.  In  propor- 
tion as  the  extension  of  the  market  calls  for  an  increase  in  the  scale 
of  production,  the  more  marked  becomes  the  separation  of  the  wage- 
earners,  who  are  engaged  in  the  actual  work  of  production,  from  the 
capitalist  master,  who  retains  to  himself  the  task  of  direction  alone. 
Then  comes  the  moment  when  those  captains  of  industry  delegate  their 
functions  to  lieutenants,  reducing  their  personal  interference  in  the 
business  to  a  minimum.  One  step  further  and  we  have  the  parasitic 
condition  fully  achieved;  on  the  one  side,  work  and  no  property; 
on  the  other  side,  property  and  no  work.  Then  the  workers  do  not  even 
know  who  the  capitalists  are  by  whom  they  are  exploited,  and  the 
exploiters  have  perhaps  never  even  seen  the  industrial  black-hole  or 
factory  of  which  they  are  the  shareholders." — Massart  and  Vander- 
velde:  Parasitism — Organic  and  Social,  pp.  61-62. 

"The  origin,  development  and  final  decay  of  the  capitalist  has  a 
resemblance  to  the  story  of  the  feudal  lord.  The  latter  was  originally 


CHAP.  XVIII.  MACHINE    PRODUCTION  231 

simply  appropriates  the  lion's  share  of  the  products 
in  consideration  of  having  given  his  consent  that  the 
workers  may  use  the  earth  and  the  machines  in  their 
necessary  work  of  producing  the  means  of  life. 

294.  Labor  Organizes  According  to  Industries,  Not 
Tools.— But  this  is  not  all.  The  organizations  of  labor 
which  formerly  were  effected  along  the  lines  of  the 
trades  are  taking  shape  now  along  the  lines  of  the  in- 
dustries. Formerly  all  organized  workingmen  who 
used  the  same  tools  belonged  to  the  same  labor  organ- 
izations without  regard  to  the  nature  of  the  industry 
in  which  they  were  employed.  The  present  movement 
is  in  the  direction  of  effecting  an  organization  of  all 
workingmen  engaged  in  any  industry,  regardless  of 
the  tools  used  by  the  individual  workers  so  employed. 
By  this  is  meant  that  all  the  men  in  any  way  connected 
with  transportation  are  coming  rapidly  into  a  single 
organization;  all  those  engaged  in  any  way  in  the 
building  trades,  into  a  single  organization;  all  those 
engaged  in  any  way  in  the  distribution  of  goods 
through  the  great  department  stores,  into  another  great 
single  organization.  All  this  is  brought  about  by  the 
necessity  of  all  those  who  work  for  the  same  employers 
belonging  to  the  same  organization,  in  order  most  ef- 
fectively to  deal  with  their  own  common  employer  or 
association  of  employers  with  interests  in  common. 

elected  by  his  fellow  tribesmen  to  lead  them  in  battle,  and  on  return- 
ing to  camp  or  village  sank  back  into  equality  with  the  rest.  In 
the  course  of  time  the  office  of  leader  like  that  of  shoemaker,  armorer 
and  priest,  became  hereditary;  finally,  the  functions  of  the  baron, 
once  real  and  necessary  ones,  disappeared.  The  name  "duke"  is  de- 
rived from  a  verb  meaning  "to  lead,"  but  the  modern  duke  leads  nothing 
more  important  than  a  cotillion,  while  his  secretary  prepares  his  grace's 
speech  for  the  House  of  Lords  and  the  hired  steward  is  collecting  his 
grace's  rents  from  the  people  whose  ancestors  his  grace's  ancestors 
plundered.  So  with  the  modern  capitalist,  whose  function  has  dis- 
appeared and  who  now  may  spend  his  time  in  playing  at  yacht  races, 
or  with  automobiles,  while  his  hired  manager  and  the  professional 
"promoter"  take  care  of  the  functions  that  used  to  occupy  the  time 
of  his  predecessor,  the  original  captain  of  industry." — F.  P.  (XHare. 


232  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

295.  Beginning  of  Future  Forms  of  Organization. 
—But  this  new  form  of  the  organization  of  labor  which 
the  necessity  of  the  situation  is  bringing  into  existence 
is  rapidly  bringing  into  existence  the  very  identical 
industrial   organizations   which  will  be  most   likely 
to  operate  the  great  industries  under  Socialism.    But 
under  capitalism  they  do  the  work  with  no  legal  stand- 
ing in  the  right  of  management  or  in  the  power  to  ap- 
propriate the  products  of  their  own  labor.    These  or- 
ganizations cannot  long  continue  to  deal  with  every 
separate  branch  of  their  own  industries  without  mak- 
ing the  discovery  that  they  can  conduct  these  indus- 
tries without  the  useless  existence  and  needless  exploit- 
ation of  the  private  owners  of  the  means  of  production. 
It  is  impossible  for  the  industrial  organizations  of 
labor  to  long  continue  to  do  all  the  necessary  work  of 
production  in  any  great  industry  without  making  the 
discovery  that  they  may  as  well  use  their  power  as 
citizens  to  equip  themselves  as  workers. 

296.  Industrial  Developments  in  the  Government.— 
Responding  to  this  regular  and  orderly  development 
of  industry  and  commerce,  the  general  government  is 
rapidly  specializing  its  functions  more  and  more  in  the 
direction  of  industrial  and  commercial  organization. 
The  Department  of  Agriculture,  the  Department  of  In- 
dustry and  Commerce  and  its  Land  Department,  are  all 
of  the  nature  of  purely  administrative  activities  of  the 
economic  interests  of  all  the  people.    Departments  of 
transportation,  of  mines  and  mining,  of  textile  manu- 
facturing, of  stock-growing  and  dairying,  of  forestry, 
of  fisheries,  and  of  foreign  trade,  all  find  the  germs  of 
their  speedy  development  among  the  subdivisions  of 
the  government  departments  already  in  existence. 

297.  Labor  Organizations  and  the  Departments.— 
the  government,  responding  to  the  normal  and 


CHAP.  XVIII  MACHINE    PRODUCTION  233 

inevitable  development  of  the  public  interest  in  trans- 
portation, shall  have  organized  a  department  devoted 
to  transportation,  and  the  workingmen  employed  in 
transportation  are  once  completely  organized  into  one 
great  industrial  union,  it  will  be  found  impossible  to 
divert  the  political  activities  of  such  a  union  from  an 
effort  to  control  that  branch  of  the  government  directly 
connected  with  its  own  industry.  But  the  same  indus- 
trial developments,  out  from  the  forms  of  labor  organ- 
ization on  the  one  hand,  and  out  from  governmental 
activities  on  the  other  hand,  and  toward  each  other, 
are  making  their  appearance,  not  only  in  transporta- 
tion, but  in  all  lines  of  industrial  life. 

298.  Labor  Organizations  and  Political  Power.— 
The  culmination  of  capitalism,  as  related  to  any  in- 
dustry, turns  that  industry,  management  and  all,  over 
to  the  " hired  men."    The  culmination  of  the  labor  or- 
ganization must  finally  bring  into  one  organization  all 
the  workers  employed  in  any  single  industry,  regard- 
less of  the  kind  of  tools  or  the  nature  of  the  tasks  in- 
volved.    The  necessary  response  of  the  political  au- 
thorities to  the  economic  activities  of  the  people  cre- 
ates government  departments,  corresponding  both  to 
the  forms  of  the  organization  of  the  industry  and  to 
the  forms  of  the  organization  of  labor.    The  workers 
discover  that  they  are  doing  all  the  world's  work  in- 
dependent of  the  private  owners.    Inevitably  they  are 
led  to  use  their  political  power  to  capture  the  control 
of  that  department  of  government  related  to  their  own 
industry  and  then  to  extend  its  functions  in  their  own 
behalf. 

299.  Transforming  the  Government.— Let  this  hap- 
pen in  many  industries  and  the  workers  will  not  only 
become  the  political  masters  but  they  will  transform 
the  character  of  the  government's  activities,  from  the 
current  military  and  monopolistic  maladministration 


234  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

of  public  affairs  for  the  private  benefit  of  the  few,  to 
purely  administrative,  industrial  functions  in  behalf  of 
all.  The  same  forces  which  will  then  rule  in  the  or- 
ganizations of  labor  will  also  rule  in  the  affairs  of  the 
state.  The  very  center  and  soul  of  the  labor  organ- 
izations is  collectivism,  democracy  and  equality.  With 
their  coming  into  place  and  power,  the  current  social 
revolution  will  be  complete.  Government  plutocracy 
will  have  been  ousted  and  will  have  been  succeeded  by 
industrial  democracy— which  is  Socialism. 

300.  The  Evolution  of  Socialism.— Hence  it  is  seen 
that  Socialism  also  has  its  origin  in  the  great  modern 
machinery.  Every  step  in  the  perfection  of  the  great 
machines  and  of  the  industrial  and  commercial  organ- 
izations of  the  private  owners  of  the  machines  and 
every  step  in  the  creation  of  labor  organizations,  along 
the  lines  of  the  great  industrial  groups,  which  the 
use  of  the  great  machines  makes  necessary,  are  steps 
in  the  development  of  Socialism. 

Nothing  but  machine  production  could  have  brought 
about  such  a  situation.  The  growth  of  the  hand  sickle 
and  the  flail  into  the  great  harvester;  the  growth  of 
the  carrying  trail  of  savagery  into  the  great  systems 
of  modern  transportation ;  the  growth  of  the  devices  for 
making  cloth  from  the  finger-twisted  threads  of  the 
earliest  workers  into  the  modern  factory,  are  all  steps 
in  the  development  of  Socialism. 

The  organization  of  the  partnership,  then  the  cor- 
poration, then  the  trust,  then  the  world-trust  and  final- 
ly the  federation  of  all  the  trusts,  while  they  are 
steps  in  the  development  of  capitalism,  even  capitalism 
is  here  seen  to  be  the  forerunner  of  Socialism.  There- 
fore, they,  too,  are  steps  in  the  development  of  Social- 
ism. 

Without  capitalism  the  organization  of  collectivism, 
democracy  and  equality,  in  the  struggle  for  existence, 


CyHAP.  XVIII  MACHINE    PRODUCTION  235 

under  the  great  machine,  which  makes  unnecessary 
the  further  drudgery  of  toil,  would  have  been  most 
difficult,  if  not  impossible. 

With  the  great  machinery,  the  coming  of  Socialism 
is  simply  the  further  adjustment  of  the  forms  of  society 
to  the  improved  processes  by  which  the  race  provides 
for  its  own  existence.3 

301.  Summary.— 1.  Industrial  drudgery  is  made 
unnecessary  by  the  great  machines. 

2.  Organized  ownership  and  organized  labor  are 
both  made  inevitable  by  the  great  machines. 

3.  The  transition  to  collective  ownership   of  the 
means  of  producing  the  means  of  life  is  made  certain 
and  easy  by  the  concentration  of  industry  caused  by 
the  great  machines. 

4.  Labor  is  organizing  along  the  lines  of  the  vari- 
ous industries  and  so  is  developing  organizations  which 
will  be  able  to  operate  the  industries  without  the  cap- 
italists. 

5.  The  government  more  and  more  organizes  indus- 
trial departments  which  in  the  end  will  compel  the 

3.  "Since  the  advent  of  civilization  the  outgrowth  of  property 
has  been  so  immense,  its  forms  so  diversified,  its  uses  so  expanding 
and  its  management  so  intelligent  in  the  interests  of  its  owners, 
that  it  has  become,  on  the  part  of  the  people,  an  unmanageable 
power.  The  human  mind  stands  bewildered  in  the  presence  of  its 
own  creation.  The  time  will  come  nevertheless  when  human  intelli- 
gence will  rise  to  the  mastery  over  property  and  define  the  relations 
of  the  state  to  the  property  it  protects  as  well  as  the  obligations  and 
the  limits  of  the  rights  of  its  owners.  The  interests  of  society  are  para- 
mount to  individual  interests  and  the  two  must  be  brought  into  just 
and  harmonious  relations.  A  mere  property  career  is  not  the  final 
destiny  of  mankind,  if  progress  is  to  be  the  law  of  the  future  as  it 
has  been  of  the  past.  The  time  which  has  passed  away  since  civiliza- 
tion began  is  but  a  fragment  of  the  past  duration  of  man's  existence; 
and  but  a  fragment  of  the  ages  yet  to  come.  The  dissolution  of  society 
bids  fair  to  become  the  termination  of  a  career  of  which  property  is 
the  end  and  aim;  because  such  a  career  contains  the  elements  of  self- 
destruction.  Democracy  in  government,  brotherhood  in  society,  equality 
in  rights  and  privileges,  and  universal  education,  equally  foreshadow  the 
next  higher  plane  of  society  to  which  experience,  intelligence  and  knowl- 
edge are  steadily  tending.  It  will  be  a  revival,  in  a  higher  form,  of 
the  liberty,  equality  and  fraternity  of  the  ancient  gentes."  *  *  * 
— Morgan:  Ancient  Society,  p.  55?. 


236  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

workers  to  control  the  government  in  order  to  control 
their  own  interests  as  workers  as  represented  in  these 
government  departments. 

6.  The  control  of  the  workers  in  the  affairs  of  the 
government  will  enforce  collectivism,  democracy  and 
equality  throughout  all  political    and    industrial    af- 
fairs. 

7.  This  whole  order  of  advance  not  only  leads  to 
Socialism,  but  could  not  have  been  brought  about  ex- 
cept through  the  order  of   capitalistic    development, 
which  is,  therefore,  the  forerunner  of  Socialism. 

REVIEW   QUESTIONS. 

1.  Quote  Aristotle. 

2.  Need  human  labor  be  destructive  of  human  life  ? 

3.  What  followed  the  introduction  of  the  great  machines? 

4.  Why   is    co-operation    necessary    under    the    use    of   the    great 
machines  ? 

5.  Why  does  collective  ownership  become  easy  and  certain  under 
the  use  of  the  great  machines  ? 

6.  How   does   the    capitalist   finally   become   an   entirely   useless 
factor  in  production? 

7.  What  is  the  most  recent  development  in  the  organization  of 
labor  unions? 

8.  How  do  the  great  industries  become  related  to  the  adminis- 
tration of  government? 

9.  Why  will  the  new  form  of  industrial  organizations  be  more 
Mkely  to  seek  political  power  ? 

10.  Are  there  any  indications  of  the  beginning  of  the  forms  of 
organizations  of  labor  which  are  likely  to  operate  the  great  industries 
in  the  future? 

11.  How  will  the  industrial  activities  of  the  workers,  when  they 
become    the    supreme    political    authority    of    the    country,    affect    the 
government  ? 

12.  What  will  mark  the  completion  of  the  current  social  reso- 
lution? 


CHAPTER  XIX 

UTOPIAS,    COLONIES,   CO-OPERATIVE  SOCIETIES  AND  SCIEN- 
TIFIC SOCIALISM 

302.  Dreams  Which  Nations  Dream.— The  ideals 
which  have  finally  grown  into  the  proposals  of  the 
Socialists  were  voiced  by  prophets,  poets  and  dream- 
ers long  centuries  before  the  industrial  and  economic 
conditions  were  so  developed  as  to  make  inevitable  the 
coming  into  actual  life  and  form  of  these  dreams  of 
the  dreamers.  It  is  said  that  the  dreams  which  na- 
tions dream  come  true.  It  is  certain  that  these  dreams 
of  the  long  past  were  grounded  on  real  and  lasting 
factors  in  human  life. 

It  would  be  easy  to  sneer  at  the  ancestry  of 
scientific  Socialism,  but  these  dreams  and  hopes 
were  really  dreamed  about  and  hoped  for,  and  even 
this  dreaming  and  hoping  are  a  part  of  the  facts  which 
scientific  students  of  the  subject  of  Socialism  must  not 
ignore. 

The  first  efforts  to  put  into  working  form  the  pro- 
posals of  the  Socialists  were  in  the  form  of  Utopian 
pictures.  The  first  efforts  in  modern  times  to  organize 
living  workers  into  productive  bodies  for  the  mutual 

237 


238  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

benefit  of  the  workers  only  were  made  by  co-operative 
colonies. 

303.  Communism  and  Socialism.— The  word  Social- 
ism was  first  made  and  used  as  referring  to  the  plans 
and  purposes  of  these  colonies.    Communism  is  a  term 
older  than  Socialism.    The  manifesto  of  the  Socialists 
of  1848,  which  first  gave  any  adequate  expression  to 
Socialism  as  a  world- wide  movement,  urging  the  work- 
ing men  of  all  countries  to  unite,  was  published  under 
the  title  of  the  "Communist  Manifesto, "  and  is  still 
known  by  that  name.     Notwithstanding  this,  Social- 
ism has  come  to  refer  to  the  proposal  to  provide  for 
the  joint  ownership  and  joint  administration  of  pro- 
ductive property  only,  and  that  on  at  least  a  national 
basis,  while  communism  has  come  to  refer  to  the  pro- 
posal to  jointly  own  and  administer  both  the  things 
of  public  and  of  private  use,  and  this  usually  within 
small  groups  and  on  limited  territory. 

304.  Primeval  Survivals.— The  utopian  dreams  are 
so  old  as  to  suggest  that  they  may  have  come  to  us  as 
survivals  of  the  primeval  brotherhoods,  seeking  to  ad- 
just themselves  to  the  successive  environments  of  the 
various  stages  of  man's  industrial  advance.    Plato's 
'  Republic"  was  among  the  earliest  of  these  pictures 
and  he  says  in  his  introduction  that  his  work  was  sug- 
gested by  a  visit  to  the  ceremonies  of  a  dedication  by 
one  of  the  Grecian  Trade  Unions,  and  there  can  be 
little  doubt  that  these  very  ancient  organizations  of 
workers  were  direct  survivals  from  or  reversions  to  the 
more  ancient  tribal  organizations. 

Augustine's  "Holy  City,"  Bacon's  "Atlantis," 
More's  "Utopia,"  and  Bellamy's  "Looking  Back- 
ward" were  pictures  which  have  been  frequently  mis- 
taken for  detail  drawings  and  specifications  by  which 
actually  to  build  the  new  civilization. 

305.  A  New  Defense  for  Old  Proposals.— The  one 


CHAP.  XIX  UTOPIAS    AND    SOCIALISM  239 

thing  which  marks  the  transition  from  these  Utopian 
efforts  to  the  propaganda  of  the  scientific  Socialists 
is  the  difference  in  the  basis  of  the  reasoning  of  the 
advocates  of  the  older  and  the  newer  schools.  The 
principles  of  collectivism,  democracy  and  equality  had 
all  been  declared  for  and  defended,  for  centuries  be- 
fore the  formulation  and  defense  of  the  doctrines  of 
scientific  Socialism.  In  more  recent  years  it  had  been 
attempted  to  introduce  these  principles  into  the  gov- 
ernment of  industries,  but  the  reasons  assigned  for  do- 
ing so  and  the  plans  proposed  were  not  based  on  the 
new  philosophy  of  evolution.1 

The  change  in  the  method  of  defense  of  these  prin- 
ciples involved  in  the  proposed  reorganization  of  in- 
dustry was  not  more  marked  than  in  other  fields  of 
thought.  The  coming  into  scientific  discussions  of  the 
evolutionary  philosophy  at  once  re-stated  the  grounds 
of  defense  for  all  sorts  of  positions,  in  philosophy,  in 
religion,  in  morals,  in  politics,  and  in  economics,  in  con- 
formity to  this  new  method  of  procedure.  The  con- 
troversies between  the  old  Socialists  and  the  new  ones 
were  not  more  marked  and  were  not  so  bitter  as  in 
religion,  in  the  sciences,  and  in  the  general  philosophy 
of  history. 

The  whole  field  of  thought  has  been  deeply  affected, 
but  the  new  philosophy  which  the  evolutionist  has 
taught  reinforces  the  proposals  of  the  Socialists,  and 
gives  a  defense  so  rational  and  so  conclusive,  so  di- 
rectly emphasizing  the  whole  theory  of  the  struggle 
for  existence  and  the  survival  of  those  forms  best 
adapted  to  the  conditions  under  which  the  struggle 

1.  "There  was,  then,  a  political  economy  among  the  ancients  as 
there  is  among  the  moderns;  not  a  systematic  and  formulated  political 
economy,  but  one  arising  from  facts,  and  practiced  before  being  written. 
Such  has  been,  moreover,  the  course  of  all  sciences  since  the  origin 
of  society.  The  first  comers  conceive  and  execute;  the  later  ones 
reason  and  improve  and  complete  the  work  of  their  predecessors." — 
Blanqui:  History  of  Political  Economy,  p.  26. 


240  THE   EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

goes  on,  that  few  indeed  are  the  advocates  of  Social- 
ism who  would  think  of  employing  any  other  form  of 
defense. 

306.  Before  the  Doctrine  of  Evolution.— Before  the 
teaching  of  the  evolutionary  philosophy  the  proposals 
of  the  Socialists  had  heen  presented  as  the  wise  plans 
of  some  philanthropist,  and  naturally  on  lines  of  en- 
terprise sufficiently  limited  to  be  within  the  reason- 
able enterprise  of  some  such  benefactor.     They  were 
not  presented  as  the  necessary  result  of  preceding  con- 
ditions, nor  as  the  necessary  outgrowth  of  industrial 
development.    Again,  the  industrial  revolution  central- 
ized and  equipped  industry  on  so  large  a  scale  as  to 
suggest  the  collective  ownership  and  democratic  use 
of  the  means  of  production,  and  therefore  helped  to 
transfer  the  foundations  of  the  argument  from  phil- 
anthropic ideals  to  economic  causes. 

307.  On  a  Small  Scale.— The  early  Socialists  tried 
to  establish  co-operative  organizations  which  should 
exemplify  the  new  co-operative  commonwealth  on  a 
small  scale.     Their  idea  was  that  the  new  common- 
wealth would  be  made  up  of  a  number  of  such  unrelated 
local  enterprises.    These  enterprises  were  not  under- 
taken as  a  means  by  which  modern  Socialism  could  be 
established.     They  were  undertaken  before   scientific 
Socialism  had  been  formulated.     These  experiments 
are  widely  confounded   with   Socialism,    and   this   is 
largely  true,  because  the  word  Socialism  was  first  ap- 
plied to  such  enterprises  before  Socialism  was  itself 
developed  into  its  present  form.    Socialism  is  no  longer 
a  dream  or  a  picture,  however  beautiful,  nor  a  proposal 
to  build  with  pictures  drawn  in  perspective  as  detail 
drawings.2 

2.  "The  spread  of  productive  co-operation  would  not  be,  it  is  true, 
in  principle  a  socialistic  organization;  for  associations  of  this  type 
would  still  be  only  competitive  business,  the  latest  development  of 
the  capitalistic  principle.  *  *  *  The  socialistic  state  will  not  be 


CHAP.  XIX  UTOPIAS  AND    SOCIALISM  241 

308.  Service  of  the  Utopians.— It  must  not  be  un- 
derstood that  because  the  Utopian  pictures  were  not 
building-plans  and  detail-drawings  that  therefore  they 
were  valueless.  They  were  valueless  as  building 
models,  but  as  a  means  of  attacking  outgrown  indus- 
trial and  commercial  institutions  and  usages,  and  of 
arousing  the  interest  and  fixing  the  attention  of  those 
who  are  without  interest  in  such  matters,  it  is  difficult 
to  conceive  of  a  better  method  than  to  begin  with  a 
story  which  teaches,  while  it  entertains,  and  is  able  to 
teach  because  it  is  able  to  entertain.  The  harm  comes 
when  the  poetic  and  literary  work  of  a  dreamer 
is  attacked  or  defended  as  if  it  were  written  not  to 
arouse  and  enthuse  for  battle  but  to  take  the  place  of 
marching  orders.  One  may  enjoy  poetry  and  be  deep- 
ly moved  and  helped  by  it  without  adopting  the  habit 
of  speaking  only  in  rhyme.3 

ealized  till  there  remains  only  collective  property  in  the  instruments 
of  social  production.  This  must  be  borne  in  mind  in  order  to  under- 
stand the  luke-warmness  of  the  clearest  heads  among  the  socialists  to- 
ward petty  co-operative  associations  of  a  Schulze,  and  toward  the 
question  of  profit-sharing  among  workmen  toward  the  labor  bureaus 
of  the  liberal  state  and  toward  the  equally  anarchical  system  of  inde- 
pendent productive  groups  (such  as  are  suggested  by  the  anarchist), 
with  their  associated  capital  held  together  by  no  bond  of  union,  but 
meeting  on  the  bare  footing  of  contract.  Such  enterprises  are  based 
on  the  competition  of  separate  capital;  they  have  a  disjointed  system 
of  production;  they  presuppose  always  an  anarchical  struggle  of  private 
interests  (between  employers  and  employed,  between  earnest  and  idle 
workers,  between  co-operators  and  non-co-operators,  between  shrewdly 
managed  social  productive  societies  successful  in  their  speculations 
and  unsuccessful  competing  associations).  The  clear-sighted  social- 
ist, as  is  well  known  approves  these  only  in  so  far  as  they  draw  closer 
the  connection  of  the  worker  with  the  means  of  production,  and  ad- 
vance the  growth  of  a  consciousness  of  collective  interests;  for  the 
rest,  he  shrugs  his  shoulders  at  them. 

"Marx  was  indifferent  or  even  averse  to  these  'reforms/ 
Socialism  demands  that  there  shall  be  collective  ownership  in  the 
means  of  production;  then,  and  then  only,  will  it  be  possible  to  effect, 
in  due  proportion  to  labor,  the  assignment  of  incomes  and  private 
property  in  the  means  of  enjoyment." — Schaeme:  The  Quintessence 
of  Socialism,  pp.  21,  62-3. 

3.  "I  propose  only  to  offer  a  few  suggestions  regarding  your  study 
of  Socialist  literature. 

"First.     Socialism  like  any  other  great  and  momemtous  scheme,  is 


242  THE  EVOLUTION  OF    SOCIALISM  PART  III 

309.  Benefits  of  Co-operation.— Again,  it  must  not 
be  understood  that  co-operative  enterprises  have  ren- 
dered no  service  and  that  because  they  are  not  in- 
stances of  concrete  Socialism  that  therefore  they  are 
to  be  condemned. 

The  last  census  of  the  United  States  (1900)  shows 
that  the  average  per  capita  property  for  the  whole 
people  of  the  United  States  was  one  thousand  dollars, 
but  at  the  same  time  the  average  within  co-operative 
organizations  was  three  thousand  dollars.  In  the  case 
of  those  not  in  the  co-operative  organizations  it  was 
very  unequally  divided,  most  people  being  without 
visible  property,  while  within  the  organizations  all 
members  had  equal  ownership. 

Again,  the  standard  of  living  within  the  organiza- 
tions has  been  very  much  higher  than  without.  There 
are  eighty  such  organizations  in  the  United  States, 
some  of  them  more  than  one  hundred  years  old,  rep- 
resenting a  population  of  many  thousand  people  who 
are  the  possessors,  and  who  use  co-operatively,  pro- 
ductive property  worth  many  millions  of  dollars. 

310.  Co-operative  Stores.— The  co-operative  stores 
of  Great  Britain,  France  and  Belgium  have  grown  to  be 
great  institutions.    Co-operative  production  in  shops, 
owned  and  managed  by  the  workers  themselves,  is  also 
carried  on  both  in  England  and  America,  and  with 
marked  success.     While  none  of  these  are  illustra- 

entitled  to  be  judged  by  its  latest  and  its  best  word;  not  to  be  de- 
rided for  the  crudities  and  absurdities  of  its  early  advocates. 

"Second.  Socialism  as  a  subject  under  debate  by  great  thinkers, 
is  not  to  be  confounded  with  the  Utopias  of  a  few  individuals  like 
Mr.  Bellamy's  Looking  Backward,  or  Dr.  Hertzka's  later  Freeland. 
The  great  Socialists  themselves  have  generally  declined  to  offer  any 
definite  detailed  scheme  for  the  government  control  of  production 
and  distribution;  and  in  this  they  have  kept  within  their  right. 

Inasmuch  as  they  only  indicate  what  appear  to  them  general 
tendencies  of  society  they  have  a  right  to  say,  "We  do  not  know  just 
where,  just  when,  just  how  all  this  will  issue.'  " — Walker:  Discussions 
in  Economics  and  Statistics,  Vol.  II.,  p.  294-5. 

See  also  Schaeffle:    Quintessence  of  Socialism,  Chapters  I.,  II. 


CHAP.  XIX  UTOPIAS  AND    SOCIALISM  243 

tions  of  Socialism,  yet  they  all  tend  to  demonstrate  the 
great  economy  in  co-operative  production  and  distribu- 
tion, and  what  is  of  more  consequence,  the  ability 
of  the  people  to  effectively  organize  and  direct  great 
industrial  and  commercial  democracies,  and  are  there- 
fore of  importance  in  the  study  of  the  development  of 
Socialism. 

311.  Co-operative  Communities.— It  is  a  frequent 
saying  that  co-operative  colonies  are  doomed  to  failure 
—that  they  have  always  failed.    This  is  not  true.    A 
much  larger  percentage  of  the  enterprises  undertaken 
under  capitalism  with  no  co-operative    features    fail 
than  of  those  which  are  co-operative.    Most  capitalistic 
enterprises  fail  even  after  they  have  been  long  estab- 
lished and  in  operation.    Nearly  all  of  the  co-operative 
colonies  which  have  failed  have  failed  in  the  effort  to 
make  a  beginning. 

But  there  are  particular  difficulties  which  stand  in 
the  way  of  the  success  of  these  co-operative  enterprises 
which  ought  to  be  mentioned  in  this  connection. 

312.  Chances  for  Unity.— 1.  They  are  usually  made 
up  of  men  who,  having  been  continually  victimized  by 
capitalistic  employers,  have  formed  the  habit  of  look- 
ing with  suspicion  upon  those  who  have  special  train- 
ing or  experience  in  the  management  of  business  mat- 
ters.   This  habit  follows  them  into  the  co-operative  or- 
ganizations and  makes  it  very  difficult,  if  not  impos- 
sible, for  the  workers  to  act  continuously  and  effective- 
ly as  a  unit. 

313.  Waiting   for   Returns.— 2.    Again,    whoever 
works  for  wages  for  a  long  time,  receiving  pay  every 
Saturday  night,  is  likely  to  find  it  very  difficult  to  bear 
a  share  in  enterprises  where  one  must  wait  a  long  time 
for  returns.    It  is  not  an  easy  thing  for  one  who  has 
never  been  obliged  to  wait  more  than  thirty  days  for 
the  next  pay  day  to  wait  for  an  annual  harvest.    Such 


244  THE  EVOLUTION  OF    SOCIALISM  PART  III 

enterprises  are  usually  undertaken  with  scant  capital, 
and  it  is  not  only  waiting  for  a  harvest,  but  frequently 
for  many  years  of  privation,  before  the  days  of  plenty 
can  arrive.  It  has  been  everywhere  observed  that  a 
farmer  who  goes  to  the  frontier  to  grow  up  with  the 
country  is  much  more  likely  to  stay  by  the  country  un- 
til it  grows  up  than  one  whose  previous  engagements 
have  never  trained  him  to  wait  for  the  harvest.  It  is 
these  men  who  have  their  training  as  wage-workers 
.and  who  cannot  wait  for  the  harvest  who  are  likely  to 
have  the  controlling  voice  in  managing  enterprises 
which,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  can  rarely  succeed  ex- 
cept after  years  of  waiting. 

314.  Under  Suspicion.— 3.    It  would  seem  that  such 
a  co-operative  enterprise  would  have  the  sympathy  and 
support  of  those  who  are  workers  in    the   neighbor- 
hood where  it  is  undertaken,  but  this  is  not  the  case. 
The  workers  in  such  an  organization  are  sure  to  be 
misunderstood  by  their  neighbors,  and,  most  of  all,  by 
the  people  of  their  own  class.    It  is  hard  for  anyone  to 
make  a  beginning  among  strangers.    It  is  found  par- 
ticularly hard  by  co-operative  organizations,  inasmuch 
ES,  in  spite  of  themselves,  they  are  sure  to  fill  the  neigh- 
bors with  prejudices  against  themselves  long  before 
they  can  have  a  chance  to  prove  their  integrity  and  use- 
fulness as  good  citizens  by  their  conduct  and  their 
industry. 

315.  Enmity  of  the  Courts.— 4.  The  law  permits  the 
organization  of  co-operative  enterprises,  and  under  the 
common  law  the  rules  and  regulations  established  by 
such  an  organization  have  the  force  of  a  contract  and 
become  a  part  of  the  law  which  the  courts  are  set  to 
enforce;  but  while  the  law  permits  the  organization 
of  co-operative  enterprises,  both  in  the  letter  and  in 
the  spirit  of  the  law,  those  who  are  set  to  enforce  the 
laws  are  the  'agents  of  those  who  are  opposed,  on  gen- 


CHAP.  XIX  UTOPIAS  AND    SOCIALISM  245 

eral  principles,  to  co-operative  undertakings  and  have 
no  regard  for  the  " binding  force  of  contracts"  when 
used  by  workers  who  are  trying  to  live  in  the  world 
and  to  escape  any  share  of  the  service  which  capital- 
ism exacts  from  all  who  toil. 

It  is  rare,  indeed,  that  a  co-operative  association  can 
secure  justice,  or  even  a  hearing,  to  say  nothing  of  a 
just  decision,  before  any  court  which  will  be  permitted 
to  exist  so  long  as  capitalism  is  permitted  to  control. 

The  story  of  any  co-operative  colony  reported  to 
have  failed  is  usually  a  long  and  dreary  narrative  of 
the  attacks  of  the  courts  established  to  protect  life  and 
to  make  secure  property  in  the  possession  of  those 
to  whom  it  belongs ;  but  which  courts  were  used  instead 
for  the  purpose  of  defaming  the  character  and  taking 
away  the  property  of  industrious  people,  who,  because 
they  were  not  serving  the  interests  which  had  elected 
the  court,  were  treated  as  if  they  were  without  rights 
before  the  court. 

316.  Bishop  Hill.— The   Bishop   Hill   property   in 
Illinois,  now  worth  many  millions,  was  thirty  years  in 
control  of  the  courts,  while  the  people  who  owned  it 
were  not  permitted  to  use  their  own  property  in  their 
own  way. 

317.  Ruskin  Colony.— The  Euskin  Colony  in  Ten- 
nessee is  another  case  where  a  receivership  took  pos- 
session of  the  property  of  the  association  under  the 
pretense  of  defending  property  rights,  and  while  the 
court  robbed  the  whole  group  it  refused  to  permit  the 
workers  to  settle  on  any  terms  with  the  complainants 
and  to  retain  and  use  their  own  property. 

318.  Kaweah  Colony.— The  Kaweah  Colony  in  Cali- 
fornia settled  on  public  lands,  built  a  road  costing  a 
quarter  of  a  million  of  dollars,  made  good  their  title 
before  special  land  commissioners  appointed  by  the 
government,  and  then,  without  a  hearing,  their  land 


246  THE  EVOLUTION  OF    SOCIALISM  PART  III 

was  declared  a  public  park  by  act  of  Congress  and  the 
people  driven  by  United  States  troops  from  the  wealth 
their  hands  had  created  and  the  colony  advertised  as  a 
failure.  The  advertisement,  to  be  complete,  should 
have  outlined  the  process  by  which  capitalism,  at  least 
in  this  case,  was  made  such  a  pronounced  success. 

The  author  of  these  pages  worked  for  seven  years  in 
various  efforts  of  this  kind.  Twice  he  saw  a  court 
refuse  to  examine  the  terms  of  agreement  under  which' 
an  association  was  acting  and  proceed  to  dispose  of 
the  property  of  the  defendant  association  without  even 
hearing  a  statement  of  the  case  before  the  court. 

319.  Greatest  Enterprises  Out  of  Reach.— 5.  Again, 
the  great  tools  of  modern  industry  are  railways,  banks, 
stores,  great  manufacturing  enterprises,  where  many 
thousands  of  people  are  employed  in  single  lines  of  in- 
dustry under  a  single  management,  with  limitless  cap- 
ital, perfect  equipment  and  the  best  possible  organiza- 
tion.   These  are  the  great  tools  with  which  modern  in- 
dustry is  carried  on.    Small  groups  of  workers  cannot 
possibly  own,  and  could  not  operate  if  they  did  own, 
these  great  enterprises.     Whatever  their  plans,  they 
cannot  include  the  operation  of  these  great  industries; 
but  without  a  share  in  these  they  must  remain  depend- 
ent upon  the  forces  which  control  these  great  enter- 
prises whenever  they  come  into  the  market  to  dispose 
of  whatever  their  labor  may  produce,  or  to  purchase 
from  the  market  such  articles  as  they  may  need  and 
cannot  manufacture. 

320.  An  Unequal  Battle.— 6.  Again,  the  capitalistic 
enterprises  are  engaged  in  a  terrific  warfare  with  each 
other.    Nothing  is  so  characteristic  of  the  present  time 
as  is  this  warfare  by  which  great  enterprises  are  clear- 
ing the  field  of  their  small  competitors,  and,  as  they 
face  each  other,  going  into  bankruptcy  or  going  into 
the  trusts.     The  methods  bv  which  this  warfare  be- 


CHAP.  XIX  UTOPIAS    AND    SOCIALISM  247 

tween  the  great  corporations  is  being  carried  on  are 
familiar.  One  corporation  will  get  control  of  the 
sources  upon  which  another  corporation  depends  for 
the  credit  by  the  use  of  which  it  is  able  to  carry  on  its 
business.  Many  a  corporation  has  destroyed  a  com- 
petitor, not  by  underselling  him,  but  by  securing  a 
position  on  the  board  of  directors  in  the  bank  where 
the  competitor  discounted  his  paper,  in  order  to  refuse 
the  accommodations  at  the  bank  on  which  the  com- 
petitor depended  for  his  existence. 

The  control  of  patents  which  the  competitor  must 
use,  the  control  of  raw  materials  which  the  competitor 
must  have,  the  control  of  transportation  upon  which 
the  competitor  depends,  are  all  methods  well  known  in 
the  industrial  warfare  and  used  every  hour  in  the  pro- 
cess by  which  the  corporations  are  destroying  each 
other,  or  in  the  face  of  which  they  avoid  destruction 
by  consenting  to  combination  in  the  form  of  a  trust. 

Now,  a  co-operative  organization  competing  in  the 
same  market  with  the  trust  will  not  only  be  unable  to 
secure  control  of  the  banks,  the  patents,  the  raw  ma- 
terials or  the  transportation,  but  because  of  the  very 
nature  of  the  organization  it  cannot  hope  to  become 
effective  in  the  use  of  such  methods  in  the  struggle  for 
maintaining  a  place  for  itself  in  the  trust-ruled  market. 

The  capitalistic  competitor  will  hold  his  organization 
closely  in  hand,  can  keep  his  own  counsel,  and  will  be 
able  to  wield  his  full  strength  without  delay,  without 
a  division  in  his  own  ranks  and  with  the  skill  of  long 
experience.  The  co-operative  organization  competing 
with  the  trust  is  unable  to  keep  its  own  secrets,  to  act 
without  delay,  will  always  act  with  divided  counsel  and 
without  skill  or  experience  in  such  a  contest. 

321.  World-Wide  Conflict.— 7.  The  capitalistic  or- 
ganization is  international.  The  ordinary  co-oper- 
ative colony  would  count  itself  successful  if  it  were  able 


248  THE  EVOLUTION  OF   SOCIALISM  PART  III 

to  absorb  the  industry  and  enterprise  of  a  single  town- 
ship. Townships  cannot  cope  with  continents  in  this 
industrial  warfare.  The  master  of  the  co-operative 
township  cannot  hope  to  become  the  master  of  the 
capitalistic  continent.  In  such  a  conflict  the  continent 
will  control. 

322.  Co-Operative  Organization  a  Public  Function. 
—The  fact  is  that  in  all  these  enterprises  the  principal 
thing  which  the  co-operative  organization  is  under- 
taking to  do  is  to  perform  certain  functions  which  be- 
long to  the  whole  body  of  society.    The  earth  belongs 
to  all  mankind.    No  man  can  justly  hold  a  claim  against 
it  outlasting  his  own  lifetime.    No  human  being  was 
ever  given  his  life  on  earth  without  at  the  same  time 
being  given  his  right  to  the  use  of  the  earth  and  all 
its  productive  powers  in  order  to  maintain   his    life 
while  here;  but  the  great  body  whose  duty  it  is  to  see 
that  dead  hands  let  go  and  that  the  feeble  hands  of 
children  shall  be  able  to  find  their  place  and  to  hold 
their  own  is  not  a  small  group,  not  a  fraternity,  nor  a 
brotherhood,  nor  a  co-operative  society,  nor  a  colony. 
It  is  neither  the  people  of  a  township  nor  of  a  continent. 
That  is  a  function  which  belongs  to  the  whole  race 
and  whatever  group  of  people  attempts  to  perform  this 
function  is  assuming  to  do  that  which  the  whole  body 
of  society  alone  has  the  right  and  the  power  to  do.    To 
be  sure,  so  long  as  society  refuses  to  do  its  duty,  indi- 
viduals and  groups  of  individuals  will  continue  to  do 
the  best  they  can. 

323.  Socialists  and  Co-Operators. — Socialism  is  not 
committed  to  opposition  to  co-operative  associations, 
shops  or  stores,  or  colonies,  as  compared  with  unadul- 
terated capitalism.    It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that 
the  capitalist  is  doomed  to  destruction  by  capitalism 
as  well  as  the  co-operator.    Whatever  is  built  on  that 
foundation,  whether  by  capitalism,  pure  and  simple,  ox 


£HAP.  XIX  UTOPIAS    AND    SOCIALISM  249 

by  co-operators,  acting  under  capitalism  and  as  com- 
petitors with  capitalism,  can  never  deliver  us  from 
capitalism  nor  show  on  any  scale  what  industry  and 
trade  would  be  without  capitalism.  Socialists  are  by 
instinct  co-operators.  Just  as  the  Socialist  movement 
came  up  through  its  Utopian  period  of  development, 
the  individual  is  not  unlikely  to  take  the  same  route 
an'd  become  a  co-operator  first  and  a  Socialist  after- 
ward. The  co-operator  who  has  grown  to  be  a  Socialist 
may  be  no  less  a  co-operator  while  capitalism  lasts  than 
before  he  learned  the  larger  lesson  of  the  co-operative 
commonwealth.4 

324.  All  Corporations  Perform  Public  Functions.— 
It  should  be  remembered  further  that  every  corpora- 
tion is  attempting  to  perform  a  public  function  as  well 
as  are  the  co-operative  societies.  This  is  not  only  a 
theory  of  the  Socialists,  but  it  is  a  fact,  recognized  in 
the  courts  and  established  in  the  forms  of  law.  The 
corporation  is  a  public  body  created  by  the  public  and 
has  the  right  to  exist  solely  and  only  because  it  serves 
the  public.  When  it  serves  the  public  badly,  or  when 
the  public  can  find  a  better  way  for  securing  the  same 
service,  or  when  the  public  can  perform  the  service 
without  the  corporation,  the  corporation,  which  has  no 
right  to  exist  except  for  the  public  welfare,  under  such 
circumstances  forfeits  its  right  to  exist  at  all.5 


4.  "But  whatever  Socialism  may  have  meant  in  the  past  its  real 
significance  now  is  the  steady  expansion  of  representative  self-govern- 
ment into  the  industrial  sphere.     This  industrial  democracy  it  is,  and 
not  any  ingenious  Utopia,  with  which  individualists,  if  they  desire  to 
make    any    effectual   resistance    to    the    substitution    of    collective    for 
individual  will  must  attempt  to  deal." — Webb:     Problems  of  Modern 
Industry,  p.  252. 

5.  "Sentimental  Socialism  has  furnished  some  attempts  at  Utopian 
construction,  but  the  modern  world  of  politics  has  presented  and  does 
present  still  more  of  them  with  the  ridiculous  and  chaotic  mess  of 
laws  and  codes  which  surround  every  man  from  his  birth  to  his  death, 
and  even  before  he  is  born  and  after  he  is  dead,  in  an  inextricable  net- 
work   of    codes,   laws,   decrees    and   regulations    which    stifle    him    like 


250  THE  EVOLUTION  OF    SOCIALISM  PART  III 

325.  A  Township  Against  a  Continent.— If  the  co- 
operative commonwealth  is  to  be  inaugurated,  it  will 
not  be  done  by  capturing  a  township  and  using  that 
to  capture  a  continent;  it  will  be  done  by  capturing  the 
political  authority  of  the  whole  body  of  society.    The 
corporations  which  have  assumed  public  functions  are 
able  to  continue  to  serve  society  badly,  to  use  the  ma- 
chinery of  industry  and  commerce  to  injure  rather  than 
to  benefit,  because  they  control  the  political  authority 
of  the  whole  body  of  society.    It  is  not  by  their  activity 
in  business,  but  because  they  supplement  their  mastery 
in  the  market  with  their  mastery  at  the  ballot  box. 

The  workers  are  helpless  in  the  market,  but  their 
voice  is  the  supreme  authority  at  the  ballot  box.  Suc- 
cessful co-operation  in  the  market  still  leaves  the  co- 
operators  the  easy  victims  of  the  capitalists  who  wield 
the  public  authority.  Successful  co-operation  on 
the  part  of  the  workers  at  the  ballot  box  will  make 
them  the  masters  of  the  shops  and  markets  and  will 
leave  no  power  able  to  withstand  them  while  they  build 
the  co-operative  commonwealth. 

326.  The  Evolution  of  Socialism.— All  co-operative 
efforts  help  to  hasten  the  coming  of  Socialism.    They 
have  been  an  important  factor  in  the  evolution  of  So- 
cialism.   So  far  as  they  have  succeeded  they  have  sug- 
gested the  greater  possibilities  of  the  co-operative  com- 
monwealth.   So  far  as  they  have  failed  they  have  em- 
phasized the  class  antagonisms  which  so  largely  have 
been  the  cause  of  their  failures.    They  have  hastened 
the  more  general  comprehension  of  scientific  Social- 
ism and  have  deepened  the  determination  of  great 

the  silk- worm  in  the  cocoon." — Ferri:     Socialism  and  Modern  Science, 
p.  131. 

"To  this  revolutionary  idealism  we  must  all  cling  fast,  then,  come 
what  will,  we  can  bear  the  heaviest,  attain  the  highest,  and  remain 
worthy  of  the  great  historical  purpose  that  awaits  us." — Kautsky:  So- 
cial Revolution,  p.  102. 


CHAP.  XIX  UTOPIAS   AND    SOCIALISM  251 

numbers  of  people  to  stand  fast  to  the  end  in  the  wider 
encounter.6 

327.    Summary.— 1.    Utopian  literature  has  been  a 
great  factor  in  economic  and  social  discussions, 

2.  The  word   Socialism  was  first  applied  to  the 
theories  advanced  in  defense  of  co-operative  colonies  or 
communities,  and  was  afterward  applied  to  the  doc- 
trines of  Socialism  as  afterward  developed;  while  the 
word  "  Communism "  came  to  apply  to  efforts  to  jointly 
administer  living  expenses  as  well  as  the  means  of  pro- 
duction. 

3.  Utopian   Socialism   was   developed   before   the 
theory  of  evolution  was  taught,  and  hence  makes  no 
use  of  the  scientific  defense  of  its  proposals.    Scientific 
Socialism  is  simply  the  proposals  of  collectivism,  de- 
mocracy and   equality,  defended  by  the  use   of  the 
scientific  arguments  developed  by  the  application  of 
the  theory  of  evolution  to  the  domain  of  economics. 

4.  Utopian  Socialism,  taking   no    account    of   the 
scientific  defense  of   Socialism,  does  not  present   the 
economic  struggle  as  one  between  economic  classes 
acting  under  the  general  doctrine  of  the  struggle  for 
existence  and  the  survival   of  the  fittest.     Scientific 
Socialism  practically  rests  its  case  on  the  struggle  for 
existence  and  the  survival  of  the  fittest  as  applied  to 
the  industrial  development. 

5.  Utopian  Socialism  aspires   after   a  juster   and 
fairer  industrial  condition  and  has  frequently  attempt- 
ed to  realize  such  a  condition  by  setting  up  a  model  on 
a  small  scale  to  show  the  world  how  it  would  work. 

6.  "As  for  the  statesmen  themselves,  nothing  further  need  here  be 
said.  The  whole  of  this  work  has  been  an  attempted  demonstration  of 
the  illusions  into  which  they  have  fallen  by  taking  their  stand  on  what 
can  be  seen  through  the  keyhole  of  the  present  alone,  and  in  consequence 
mistaking  for  political  ends  what,  had  they  given  themselves  a  greater 
length  of  line  as  perspective,  they  would  have  seen  to  be  temporary  po- 
litical means  merely." — Crozier:  History  of  Intellectual  Development 
Vol.  III.,  p.  227. 


252  THE  EVOLUTION  OF    SOCIALISM  PAIIT  III 

Scientific  Socialism  denies  that  the  Socialist  state  can 
be  established  in  spots,  in  advance  of  the  economic 
development,  or  until  the  economic  development 
reaches  the  stage  in  which  Socialism  will  be  the  regu- 
lar scientific  survival  in  the  conflict  between  the  eco- 
nomic interests  which  will  be  best  served  by  Socialism 
and  the  economic  interests  now  served  by  capitalism, 
and  that  when  that  stage  is  reached  Socialism  must 
come  or  world- wide  disaster  will  be  the  inevitable  re- 
sult.7 

6.  Co-operative  societies,  colonies  and  manufactur- 
ing and  commercial  enterprises,  have  all  established 
by  actual  experience,  first,  the  practicability  of  demo- 
cratic management;  and    secondly,    the    very    great 
advantage  of  co-operative  endeavor  on  a  small  scale, 
as  compared  with  small  enterprises  carried  on  under 
competition. 

7.  It  is  very  difficult  to  secure  the  otherwise  possi- 
ble advantages    of    co-operative    organization    under 

7.  "Revolution  simply  means  that  the  evolution  of  society  has 
reached  the  point  where  a  complete  transformation,  both  external  and 
internal,  has  become  immediately  inevitable.  No  man  and  no  body  of 
men  can  make  such  a  revolution  before  the  time  is  ripe  for  it;  though, 
as  men  become  conscious  instead  of  unconscious  agents  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  society  in  which  they  live  and  of  which  they  form  a  part 
they  may  themselves  help  to  bring  about  this  revolution.  A  successful 
revolution,  whether  effected  in  the  one  way  or  the  other,  merely  gives 
legal  expression  and  sanction  to  the  new  forms  which,  for  the  most  part 
unobserved  or  disregarded,  have  developed  in  the  womb  of  the  old 
society.  Force  may  be  used  at  the  end  of  the  period  as  during  the  in- 
cubative and  full  growth.  It  is  true,  as  Marx  said,  that  force  is  the  mid- 
wife of  progress  delivering  the  old  society  pregnant  with  the  new;  but 
on  the  other  hand,  force  is  also  the  abortionist  of  reaction,  doing  its 
utmost  to  strangle  the  new  society  in  the  womb  of  the  old.  Force  it- 
self, on  either  side,  is  merely  a  detail  in  that  inevitable  growth  which 
none  can  very  rapidly  advance  or  seriously  hinder." — Hyndman:  Eco- 
nomics of  Socialism,  p.  4. 

"One  nation  can  and  should  learn  from  others.  And  even  when  a 
society  has  got  upon  the  right  track  for  the  discovery  of  the  natural 
laws  of  its  movement — and  it  is  the  ultimate  aim  of  this  work  to  lay 
bare  the  economic  law  of  motion  of  modern  society — it  can  neither  clear 
by  bold  leaps,  nor  remove  by  legal  enactments,  the  obstacles  offered  by 
the  successive  phases  of  its  normal  development.  But  it  can  shorten 
and  lessen  the  birth  pangs." — Marx:  Capital,  preface  to  first  edi- 
tion, p.  19. 


CHAP.  XIX  UTOPIAS   AND    SOCIALISM  253 

capitalism,  because  of  the  inexperience  in  management 
on  the  part  of  the  workers,  the  prejudice  of  the  public, 
the  long  waiting  for  returns  and  the  determined  oppo- 
sition of  capitalistic  society,  which  controls  and  uses 
the  courts  of  law  to  interfere  with  and  to  destroy  such 
undertakings. 

8.  Co-operative  enterprises  cannot  get  control  of 
the  great  shops,  factories,  mines,  railways,  banks  and 
storehouses;  but  these  are  the  principal  means  of  mod- 
ern production  and  exchange,  and  are   in   possession 
and  control  of  capitalism. 

9.  Captitalism  uses  all  these  forces  to  destroy  co- 
operative enterprises. 

10.  The  workers  are  the  masters  at  the  ballot  box. 
If  they  will  stand  together  there,  they  can  use  the 
power  of  the  state  to  take  possession  and  control  of 
all  the  great  enterprises,  and  the  others  will  follow.    It 
is  easier  to  capture  a  continent  by  Socialism  than  a 
township  by  co-operative  undertakings  committed  to 
the  spread  of  Socialism.     The  continent  will  include 
the  township.    The  township,  if  won,  would  be  but  a 
temporary  victory.    The  continent  would  in  the  end 
control. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  In  what  way  is  the  origin  of  the  word  Socialism  related  to  the 
co-operative  communities  ? 

2.  Define  communism  and  Socialism  as  related  to  each  other. 

3.  In  what  way  is  the  Utopian  literature  related  to  the  beginning 
of  the  agitation  for  Socialism? 

4.  Are  these  writings  valuable  in  propaganda  work,  and  if  so,  why  ? 

5.  What  services  have  co-operative  enterprises  rendered  regardless 
of  their  relations  to  Socialism? 

6.  Are  such  enterprises  more  likely  to  be  failures  than  those  with- 
out co-operative  features? 

7.  Name  some  particular  difficulties  in  the  way  of  co-operative 
enterprises. 

8.  Can  co-operative  enterprises  take  advantage  of  the  greatest  tools 
of  modern  industry? 

9.  State  relations  of  modern  corporations  to  each  other  and  give 


254  THE  EVOLUTION  OF    SOCIALISM  PART  III 

reasons  why  co-operative  organizations  are  at  a  disadvantage  in  the 
midst  of  these  competitive  encounters. 

10.  Why  is  the  work  of  a  co-operative  society  or  colony  an  assump- 
tion of  public  functions? 

11.  Is  the  same  true  of  private  corporations? 

12.  How  have  co-operative  undertakings  helped  in  the  evolution  of 
Socialism? 


CHAPTER  XX 

THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  SENSE  OF  SOLIDARITY  OF  THE  RACE 

328.  Tribal  Solidarity.— During  the  primitive  life 
of  the  race  there  was  no  sense  of  the  common  race  life, 
neither  was  there  any  sufficient  appreciation  of  the 
individual.    The  life  of  primitive  man  was  limited  by 
ignorance  and  ruled  by  fear.    The  slight  organization 
which  was  possible  was  little  above  the  animal  plane. 
There  was  no  realization  of  anything  like  a  world-life 
or  a  race-life.    The  stranger,  whether  man  or  beast, 
was  regarded  but  a  brute.    The  man  outside  the  tribe 
was  not  understood  to  have  any  claim  to  existence,  or 
to  sustain  any  relations  whatever  to  those  belonging  to 
the  tribe  or  clan.    The  members  of  the  tribe  were  con- 
scious of  the  tribal  life.    In  fact,  the  tribal  life  was  the 
real  life  of  primitive  man. 

329.  Absence  of  the  Individual.— While  his  life  did 
not  go  beyond  the  tribe  as  recognizing  any  human  re- 
ilations  between  himself  and  any  others  not  belonging 
'to  his  own  group,  it  never  stopped  short  of  the  tribe 
to  consider  sufficiently  the  individual  as  of  any  con- 
sequence for  his  own  sake. 

330.  A  Completer  Individuality.— The  development 
of  the  individual  was  made  possible  only  by  the  ad- 

255 


256  THE  EVOLUTION  OF    SOCIALISM  PART  III 

vance  of  society,  and  society  has  advanced  only  as  its 
activities  have  tended  to  the  further  development  of 
the  individual.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  real  social 
advance  which  does  not  manifest  itself  in  a  completer 
individuality.  And  there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  a 
great  individuality  which  does  not  at  the  same  time 
manifest  itself  in  efforts  tending  toward  the  social 
growth.1 

Every  advance  in  the  life  of  the  individual  is  re- 
flected in  a  corresponding  advance  in  the  life  of  so- 
ciety; and  every  real  improvement  in  the  life  of  so- 
ciety is  reflected  in  a  corresponding  improvement  in 
the  selfhood  of  the  individual.  When  selfishness  is 
attacked  it  is  that  element  in  selfishness  which  is  also 
meanness.  When  selfishness  is  defended  it  is  not  the 
meanness  which  any  one  would  attempt  to  defend.  It 
is  the  selfhood  without  which  there  can  never  be  either 
a  great  manhood  or  a  great  society. 

331.  Primitive  Ignorance  of  Earth  and  Man.— The 
primitive  man  was  ignorant  of  all  the  world  which  he 
could  not  cover  by  his  own  travels.  He  was  ignorant 
of  all  social  institutions  which  did  not  belong  to  his 
own  group.  Beyond  the  reach  of  his  own  vision  his 
fears  had  peopled  the  plains,  forests  and  seas  with 
monstrosities  which  really  only  existed  as  the  creations 
of  his  frightened  imagination.  In  the  midst  of  the 
beasts  of  prey  and  of  human  strangers  deadlier  than 
the  beasts  themselves,  he  could  not  exist  except  in 
groups.  There  was  no  race-life  possible.  The  achieve- 
ment of  any  sense  of  a  solidarity  of  interest,  or 
sympathy,  or  of  life  as  wide  as  the  race,  could  only  be 

1.  "Not  only  is  it  impossible  to  achieve  personal  moral  growth 
aside  from  the  community ;  this  personal  strength  being  gained,  gives  at 
once  the  conditions  of  successfully  combined  action.  The  objections  to 
organic  effort  in  society  fall  to  the  ground  just  in  the  degree  in  which 
men  attain  private  virtue.  Nothing  can  withhold  men  from  the  col- 
lective use  of  their  collective  powers,  any  more  than  from  the  private  use 
of  their  private  powers." — Bascom :  Sociology,  p.  252. 


CHAP.  XX  THE  SENSE  OF  SOLIDARITY  2ti 

effected  by  the  creation  of  conditions  and  by  the  oper- 
ation of  forces  which  could  awaken  in  him  a  conscious- 
ness, not  only  of  his  relations  to  the  wider  life  of  the 
race,  but  at  the  same  time  awaken  and  reveal  to  himself 
the  possibilities  of  his  own  personality. 

332.  World  Conquest  and  Race  Solidarity.— The 
earliest  movement  towards  the  world-life  was  the  wars 
between  the  tribes,  which  finally  resulted  in  world- wide 
conquest.    Man  was  first  able  to  realize  something  like 
a  vital  connection  between  the  individual  within  the 
tribe  and  the  whole  race  without  and  beyond  the  tribe, 
as  the  result  of  this  world-wide  conquest,  which  com- 
pelled him,  as  a  single  personality,  to  surrender  to  the 
single  central  authority  established  as  the  result  of  the 
militarism  of  the  ancient  world. 

333.  The  Great  Religions.— The  great  religions  fol- 
lowed closely  upon  the  heels  of  conquest.     It  is  im- 
possible to  understand  what  is  in  man,  or  to  follow  the 
story  of  social  development,  and  ignore  the  part  which 
the  great  religions  of  the  world  have  had  in  the  great 
movements  of  the  race.    Whatever  abuses  may  have 
attached  to  ecclesiastical  organizations,  every  effort 
undertaken  by  any  group  of   men   to   convert    other 
groups  of  men  to  the  religion  of  their  own  group  has 
been  an  effort  which  has  tended  to  create  a  sense  of  the 
unity  of  the  race. 

The  great  world  religions,  moving  and  guiding  the 
thought  of  whole  continents  and  races,  and  for  genera- 
tions together,  in  the  effort  to  bring  others  under  their 
sway,  have  had  no  small  share  in  teaching  the  lesson 
of  the  oneness  of  the  race.  The  Christian  religion  is 
particularly  and  has  always  been  a  religion  of  mission- 
aries. Where  the  missionaries  have  gone,  trade  has 
followed;  or  where  trade  has  gone  and  the  missionary 
followed,  with  the  direct  result  of  making  trade  more 
profitable,  there  a  new  force  has  at  once  been  set  to 


258  THE  EVOLUTION  OF    SOCIALISM  PART  III 

work  in  revealing  to  man  the  fact  of  a  common  human 
life. 

334.  Into  All  Nations  to  Trade  With  Them.— The 
earliest  advance  toward  a  sense  of  a  wider  life  came 
to  the  tribe  when  it  crossed  a   river   or   a  mountain 
range  to  fight  with  the  neighboring  tribes.    But  going 
into  all  nations  in  order  to  trade  with  them  has  broken 
down  prejudices  and  race  hatreds,  and  has  revealed 
to  all  men  a  common  interest  and  common  life,  and 
has  enforced  that  common  interest  and  that  common 
life  to  a  degree  never  before  possible.    The  same  wants, 
the  same  means  of  support,  the  same  appetites  and  pas- 
sions, the  same  ambitions,  the  same  hopes  and  fears, 
the  same  aspirations,  the  same  hopelessness  in  the  face 
of  blight,  or  plague,  or  storm,  the  same  cruelty  in  strife 
and  the  same  tenderness  of  parental  regard— all  are 
revealed  by  trade,  by  the  interchange  of  goods,  as  the 
common  lot  of  all  men  and  in  all  lands.    The  silks,  the 
spices,  the  cotton  and  woolen  goods,  the  rubber,  the 
tea,  the  coffee,  the  items  which  make  up  our  own  simple 
daily  fare— have  they  not  come  from  all  races  and 
from  everywhere?    They  come  with  the  touch  of  the 
life  upon  them  which  made  them  ready  for  our  use,  and, 
as  we  use  them,  we  mingle  with  and  become  conscious 
of  this  common  life  of  all.2 

335.  Modern     Industry.— Modern     industry     has 
brought  great  armies  of  men  into  single  organizations 

2.  "Thus  the  citizen  in  a  modern  municipality  no  longer  produces 
his  own  food  or  makes  his  own  clothes;  no  longer  protects  his  own  life 
or  property ;  no  longer  fetches  his  own  water ;  no  longer  removes  his  own 
refuse  or  even  disinfects  his  own  dwelling.  He  no  longer  educates  his 
own  children  or  doctors  and  nurses  his  own  invalids." — Webb :  Industrial 
Democracy,  Vol.  II.,  p.  846. 

"For  I  repeat,  the  excellence  of  the  social  state  does  not  lie  in  the 
fullness  with  which  wealth  is  produced  and  accumulated,  but  in  the  fact 
that  it  is  so  distributed  as  to  give  the  largest  comfort  and  the  widest 
hope  to  the  general  mass  of  those  whose  continued  efforts  constitute  the 
present  industry  of  the  nation  and  the  abiding  prospect  of  its  future 
well  being." — Rogers:  Work  and  Wages,  p.  573. 


CHAP.  XX  THE  SENSE  OF  SOLIDARITY  259 

under  single  management.  They  work  together  at  the 
same  tasks,  are  answerable  to  the  same  authority;  de- 
pend for  their  opportunity  to  live  upon  the  same 
conditions;  have  learned  the  necessity  of  organization 
in  order  to  withstand  aggressions  on  the  part  of  their 
employers,  and  so  have  learned  a  sense  of  common 
interest  and  common  life.  All  the  workers  of  the  world 
are  coming  into  this  common  relation  to  each  other  and 
are  learning  that  there  is  no  deliverance  for  any  of 
them  from  capitalism  anywhere,  except  all  workers 
shall  act  together  in  the  deliverance  of  all.  In  the 
beginning  they  were  conscious  of  tribal  relations.  Aft- 
erwards they  became  conscious  of  national  relations. 
The  instinct  of  nationality  has  made  workers  of  dif- 
ferent countries  enemies  to  each  other.  They  have 
seen  no  reason  why  the  workers  of  one  land  should  not 
consent  to  the  oppression  and  starvation  of  the  workers 
of  other  lands,  provided  that  in  so  doing  markets  for 
themselves  were  made  secure  and  employment  regular 
and  profitable. 

But  international  trade  and  the  world-wide  organ- 
ization of  industry  is  making  the  workers  race  con- 
scious as  well  as  class  conscious,  and  will  rapidly  es- 
tablish this  race  consciousness  as  the  strongest  factor 
in  the  political  activity  of  the  workers  everywhere.3 

3.  "If  we  announce  that  we  will  remove  the  present  class  state, 
then  in  order  to  meet  the  objections  of  our  opponents  we  must  also  say 
that  the  social  democracy,  while  it  contends  against  the  class  state 
through  the  removal  of  the  present  form  of  production,  will  destroy  the 
class  struggle  itself.  Let  the  means  of  production  become  the  possession  > 
of  the  community ;  then  the  proletariat  is  no  longer  a  class — as  little  as 
the  bourgeoisie;  then  classes  will  cease;  there  will  remain  only  society,  a 
society  of  equals — true  human  society,  mankind  and  humanity. 

"For  that  reason  it  has  been  stated  in  the  plainest  manner  that 
we  should  not  substitute  one  class  rule  for  another.  Only  malice  and 
thoughtlessness  could  incidentally  put  such  a  wrong  construction  on  our 
meaning,  for  in  order  to  rule,  in  order  to  be  able  to  exercise  rule,  I 
must  have  possession  in  the  means  of  production.  My  private  property 
in  the  means  of  production  is  the  preliminary  condition  for  riile,  and 
socialism  removes  personal  private  property  in  the  means  of  production. 
Rule  and  exploitation  in  every  form  must  be  done  away  with,  man  be- 


260  THE  EVOLUTION  0#  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

336.  Vital    Race    Relationships.— Again,    modern 
science  lias  discovered  and  emphasized  the  oneness  of 
all  life.    Not  only  are  all  living  beings  in  some  way 
interdependent,  but  all  life  which  is  has  been  derived 
from  life  that  was.    While  science  points  us  backward 
to  the  humblest  origin,  it  has  demonstrated  that  all 
men  everywhere,  when  subject  to  the  same  conditions, 
developed  the  same  institutions.    For  it  is  now  known 
that  like  causes  produce  like  results  in  human  life,  the 
same  as  in  all 'other  fields  where  the  operation  of  nat- 
ural law  has  been  observed  and  studied.    All  human 
life  is  the  same  life,  because,  subject  to  the  same  condi- 
tions, it  produces  the  same  results.    And  hence,  what 
religion  has  made  a  deep  and  controlling  sentiment, 
what  war  has  made  a  necessity,  what  trade  has  made 
inevitable,  modern  science  has  made  known  as  a  vital, 
living  relationship. 

However  long  the  world  was  waiting  for  the  first 
drop  of  human  blood,  when  it  came  it  was  alive.  It 
was  endowed  with  certain  marvelous  powers.  It  was 
able  to  repeat,  through  succeeding  generations,  the 
same  forms  of  life,  and  to  carry  on,  as  characteristic  of 
each  new  life,  the  qualities  of  each  individual  life 
through  whose  heart  it  had  passed  on  its  way. 

337.  The  Warm  Blood-Current  of  the  Race-Life.— 
The  warm,  red  blood  which  lives  in  the  hearts  of  all 
men  bears  with  itself  qualities  which  it  has  never  lost, 
powers  which  it  has  continuously  possessed  during  un- 
told centuries  since  it  was  first  given  its  life  during  all 
of  which  time  it  has  never  once  been  cold,  or  chilled, 
or  dead.     From  the  loins  of  each  generation  it  has 
leaped  to  the  next,  hot,  and  bearing  with  itself  the  life 
of  all  preceding  centuries.    Each  generation  is  not  a 

come  free  and  equal,  not  master  and  servant,  but  comrades,  brothers  and 
sisters!"— Liebknecht:  Socialism:  What  It  Is  and  What  It  Seeks  to 
Accomplish,  p.  46. 


CHAP.  XX  THE  SENSE  OF  SOLIDARITY  261 

new  life  just  visiting  the  world  for  the  first  time.  It  is 
the  same  old  life,  re-embodying  and  once  more  mani- 
festing itself  in  new  and  higher  forms,  unless  exhausted 
by  the  excesses  or  made  degenerate  by  the  follies  of  its 
parentage.  The  waters  of  a  mountain  stream  so  mingle 
with  each  other  that,  no  matter  what  torrents,  or  cur- 
rents, or  eddies,  or  twists,  or  turns  may  be  taken  in  its 
progress,  the  waters  mingle  with  each  other;  and,  sweet 
or  bitter,  clear  or  turbid,  whatever  is  characteristic  of 
any  share  of  the  current,  speedily  becomes  a  quality 
of  the  whole  current  itself.  But  no  mountain  stream 
has  so  mingled  its  waters  as  the  sources  of  all  life 
have  mingled  with  each  other  in  the  movements  of 
the  centuries.  The  life  we  have  was  derived  from  the 
past.  The  life  we  live  will  be  given  to  the  future.  All 
that  the  past  has  given  us,  all  that  we  are,  will  deter- 
mine the  life  of  tomorrow. 

In  any  effort  to  separate  great  families  or  tribes,  no 
matter  for  how  many  centuries  they  may  seem  to  suc- 
ceed, they  are  overwhelmed  at  last  and  swept  on  into 
the  midst  of  the  movement  of  the  ages,  either  as  a 
new  force  which  has  brightened  and  ennobled  the  life 
of  all,  or  perchance  as  a  group  of  degenerates  whose 
separation  has  involved  their  own  ruin,  and  whose  re- 
turn can  only  injure  the  life  of  all  so  long  as  its  weak 
vitality  may  last.  This  life  current,  capitalism  poisons, 
corrupts,  taints  with  crime,  robs  of  its  vitality  and 
smothers  out  of  it  every  rising  purpose  of  a  higher  life. 
Only  Socialism  can  win  for  it  protection  from  harm  and 
freedom  to  move  unhampered  in  its  long  ascent. 

338.  United  Testimony  of  the  Sciences.— Thus  the 
study  of  biology  leads  to  the  knowledge  of  the  oneness 
of  all  life— to  race-consciousness,  to  the  sense  of  soli- 
darity. The  same  result  follows  the  study  of  all  the 
other  sciences  which  deal  with  the  facts  of  life  or  with 
the  development  of  human  institutions.  Anthropology, 


262  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

or  the  study  of  the  human  race;  ethnology,  or  the  study 
of  the  separate  races  of  men,  and  philology,  or  the 
study  of  the  written  and  spoken  languages  of  the  race, 
all  reveal  the  kinship  of  the  races,  which  more  and 
more  bind  them  to  each  other  and  into  a  single  world- 
wide race-life,  while  the  study  of  sociology,  or  the  laws 
of  social  growth,  are  more  and  more  making  plain  the 
necessary  interdependence  of  all  men  in  a  way  which 
reinforces  every  personal  interest  by  revealing  its 
identity  with  the  widest  interests  of  all. 

Eeciprocity  is  a  new  word  in  politics,  but  it  ex- 
presses an  old  fact  in  real  life,  and  the  wide  study  of 
these  sciences  and  the  rapid  growth  of  the  great  body 
of  facts  which  students  in  these  fields  are  gathering  is 
reinforcing  the  sense  of  race  solidarity  among  students 
and  teachers  everywhere. 

339.  The    Poets    and   Prophets.— The    poets    and 
prophets  of  all  ages  have  seen  and  have  sung  the  unity 
of  the  race.    In  fact,  it  was  the  realization  of  this  unity 
which  made  the  poets  and  the  prophets.    They  have 
spoken  of  the  life  of  all,  which  is  to  be  the  life  of  all 
tomorrow,  and  which  their  wider  vision  realized  for 
themselves  as  if  it  was  the  life  of  all  already. 

Those  with  a  narrower  vision  could  not  see,  and 
therefore  could  not  understand;  and  the  prophets  were 
stoned  because  they  bluntly  spoke  of  pictures  which 
others  could  not  see. 

The  poets  escaped  stoning  because,  though  they 
spoke  of  that  same  coming  common  life,  their  music  so 
blended  its  chords  and  quickened  its  vibrations  in  the 
lives  of  all  that  all  responded  to  the  all-life  which  had 
made  the  poets. 

340.  Industry  and  Politics  Must  Develop  With  Race 
Solidarity.— Now,  human  life  can  realize  the  unity  of 
the  race  and  so  make  possible  the  perfection  of  the  in- 
dividual only  by  continuing  the  development  which 


CHAP.  XX  THE   SENSE   OF   SOLIDARITY  263 

will  give  to  common  possession  the  matters  of  com- 
mon concern  and  protect  from  the  interference  of  any 
those  things  which  belong  to  the  individual  alone.  But 
the  trouble  with  the  old  society,  the  trouble  with  the 
whole  line  of  ecclesiastical,  political  and  industrial 
institutions,  is  that  they  have  insisted,  and  still  insist, 
on  organizing  and  controlling  the  things  which  are  of 
individual  concern,  and  refuse  to  organize  and  to  give 
to  joint  control  those  things  which  are  the  concern  of 
all.  But  this  is  what  the  Socialists  propose  to  do. 

341.  The  Highest  Incentive  to  Action.— The  old 
individual  asked,  "If  a  man  die,  shall  he  live  again!" 
The  new  individual  may  not  ignore  the  old  question; 
but  his  chief  concern  will  be  with  this  question:  If 
a  man  live,  what  shall  be  the  life  which  by  his  exist- 
ence must  become  and  remain  a  share  of  the  world  life 
forever?4  This  sense  of  solidarity,  this  realization  of 

4.  "The  social  purpose  is  a  humanized  world  composed  of  men  and 
women  and  children,  sound  and  accomplished  and  beautiful  in  body; 
intelligent  and  sympathetic  in  mind;  reverent  in  spirit;  living  in  an 
environment  rich  in  the  largest  elements  of  use  and  beauty;  and  oc- 
cupying themselves  with  the  persistent  study  and  pursuit  of  perfection. 
In  a  word,  the  social  purpose  is  human  wealth.  There  is  but  one  inter- 
est in  life,  and  that  is  the  human  interest.  All  that  makes  for  human 
wealth;  for  the  sound,  strong,  beautiful,  accomplished  organism;  for 
an  enlarged  and  rationalized  conception  of  nature ;  for  the  unfolding  and 
perfecting  of  the  human  spirit — all  this  is  light;  and  all  that  makes 
against  human  wealth,  however,  sanctioned  by  law  and  custom,  plati- 
tudes and  prejudice, — all  this  is  darkness.  Education  is  simply  the  prac- 
tical process  by  which  we  realize  this  social  purpose  and  acquire  human 
wealth.  The  social  purpose  is  frankly  avaricious  of  the  ntmost  possible 
amount  of  good  fortune;  and  this  divine  greed  can  only  be  satisfied  when 
as  a  society,  we  deliberately  and  consciously  resolve  to  make  the  very 
best  out  of  every  individual,  to  make  him  highly  endowed,  to  make  him 
superior  even  to  the  full  measure  of  his  capacity.  A  nation  which  fails 
to  do  this  fails  to  realize  the  social  purpose,  and  must  still  be  accounted 
barbarous.  It  has  not  yet  come  into  conscious  harmony  with  the  great 
esthetic  world-process.  Looking  over  the  earth  today  one  sees  a  goodly 
and  an  increasing  company  of  delightful,  cultivated,  social,  human  people; 
but  one  does  not  see  a  single  nation  that  is  other  than  barbarous.  Even 
America,  the  greatest  of  them  all,  is  not  yet  social,  has  not  yet  thrown 
herself  unreservedly  into  the  pursuit  of  human  wealth.  We  make  a 
fetish  of  the  public  school  with  its  cheap  information  and  shop-keeping 
accomplishments,  but  we  have  not  yet  conceived  of  human  life  as  a  moral 
and  esthetic  revelation  of  the  universe  nor  of  education  as  a  practical 


264  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PAET  III 

the  common  life  of  man,  this  entering  into  companion- 
ship with  all  the  past  and  into  paternal  relations  with 
all  the  future,  this  unity  and  identity  of  interest  be- 
tween the  individual  and  the  race  to  which  he  belongs, 
furnish  a  basis  for  the  highest  character— an  incen- 
tive for  the  greatest  achievements.5  It  sounds  the  call 
for  the  only  real  heroism  of  modern  times.6 

342.  Capitalism  Outgrown.— But  this  sense  of 
solidarity,  this  sense  of  brotherhood,  this  oneness  of  the 
race  life,  in  which  each  individual  is  carrying  within 
himself  all  the  achievements  of  the  past  and  all  the 
promise  of  the  future,  can  never  express  itself  in 


process  of  entering  into  this  tremendous  possession.  Even  the  bounty 
of  nature,  the  indisputable  heritage  of  the  collective  nation,  her  fields  and 
forests,  oil  wells  and  coal  mines,  mineral  deposits  and  stone  quarries, 
water  power  and  roadways, — all  this  is  handed  over  to  the  crude  minis- 
tration of  profit,  and  the  majority  of  America's  children  are  reduced  to 
the  position  of  wage-takers  and  servants,  with  little  time  or  strength  or 
heart  for  the  carrying  out  of  the  true  social  purpose,  the  pursuit  of  the 
higher  human  wealth.  The  bulk  of  our  laws  have  to  do  with  merchan- 
dise and  real  estate.  The  few  that  concern  themselves  with  man  are 
mainly  prohibitive,  the  things  that  he  may  not  do.  The  realization  of 
the  social  purpose  demands  a  more  positive  ideal  than  this." — Hender- 
son: Education  and  Life,  pp.  48***50. 

5.  "Every  being  who  is  not  monocellular  is  sure  to  have  something 
good  in  him,  because  he  is  a  society  in  embryo,  and  a  society  does  not 
subsist  without  a  certain  equilibrium,  a  mutual  balance  of  activities. 
Further,  the  monocellular  being  itself  would  become  plural  if  more  com- 
pletely analyzed;   nothing  in  the  universe  is  simple;    now,   every  one 
who  is  complex  has  always  more  or  less  solidarity  with  other  beings. 
Man,  being  the  most  complex  being  we  know  of,  has  also  m'ore  solidarity 
with  respect  to  others.     Moreover,  he  is  the  being  with  most  conscious- 
ness of  that  solidarity.    Now,  he  is  the  best  who  has  most  consciousness 
of  his  solidarity  with  other  beings  and  the  universe." — Guyau:    Educa- 
tion and  Heredity,  p.  33. 

6.  "The  most  unfortunate  fact  in  the  history  of  human  develop- 
ment is  the  fact  that  the  rational  faculty  so  far  outstripped  the  moral 
sentiments.     This  is  really  because  moral   sentiments  require  such   a 
high  degree  of  reasoning  power.     The  intuitive  reason  which  is  purely 
egoistic,  is  almost  the  earliest  manifestation  of  the  directive  agent  and 
requires   only   a   low   degree   of  the   faculty   of  reasoning.      But   sym- 
pathy requires  a  power  of  putting  one's  self  in  the  place  of  another, 
of  representing  to  self  the  pains  of  others.     When  this  power  is  ac- 
quired it  causes  a  reflex  of  the  represented  pain  to  self,  and  this  re- 
flected pain  felt  by  the  person  representing  it  becomes  more  and  more 
acute  and  unendurable  as  the  representation  becomes  more  vivid  and 
as  the  general  organization  becomes  more  delicate  and  refined.     This 
high  degree  was  far  from  being  attained  by  man  at  the  early  stage 


CHAP.  XX  THE  SEXSE  OF  SOLIDARITY  265 

economic  and  industrial  relations  while  capitalism 
lasts,  because  capitalism  arrays  one  against  another, 
and  attempts  to  maintain  as  matters  of  individual  con- 
cern those  things  upon  which  all  must  depend  for  their 
existence.7  The  monopoly,  tyranny  and  inequality  of 
capitalism  are  directly  at  war  with  this  growing  sense 
of  solidarity  of  the  race.8 

343.  Socialism  and  Solidarity.— On  the  other  hand, 
this  sense  of  race  solidarity  could  not  become  the  force 
it  is  in  the  life  of  man  without  directly  suggesting  the 
collectivism,  democracy  and  equality  which  alone  can 


with  which  we  are  now  dealing.  Vast  ages  must  elapse  before  it  is 
reached  even  in  its  simplest  form.  And  yet  the  men  of  that  time  knew 
their  own  wants  and  possessed  much  intelligence  of  ways  of  satisfy- 
ing them.  We  need  not  go  back  to  savage  times  to  find  this  difference 
between  egoistic  and  altruistic  reason.  We  see  it  constantly  in  mem- 
bers of  civilized  society  who  are  capable  of  murdering  innocent  per- 
sons for  a  few  dollars  with  which  they  expect  to  gratify  a  passion 
or  satisfy  some  personal  want.  It  is  true  in  this  sense  that  a  criminal 
is  a  survival  from  savagery.  Civilization  may  indeed  be  measured  by 
the  capacity  of  men  for  suffering  representative  pain  and  their  efforts 
to  relieve  it." — WTard:  Pure  Sociology,  p.  346. 

"The  industrial  reformation  for  which  western  Europe  groans  and 
travails,  and  the  advent  of  which  is  indicated  by  so  many  symptoms 
though  it  will  come  only  as  the  fruit  of  faithful  and  sustained  ef- 
fort), will  be  no  isolated  fact,  but  will  form  part  of  an  applied  art  of 
life,  modifying  our  whole  environment,  affecting  our  whole  culture, 
and  regulating  our  whole  conduct — in  a  word,  directing  all  our  re- 
sources to  the  one  great  end  of  the  conservation  and  development  of 
Humanity." — Ingram:  History  of  Political  Economy,  p.  246. 

7.  "As  militancy  first   compelled  national   unity,   so  the  warring 
factions   of   industrialism    are   being   forced    into    protective    alliances. 
This  is  the  purport  of  the  latest  phase  of  social  evolution.     If  under 
modern  conditions  fifty  men  can  feed  a  thousand  and  another  fifty  can 
clothe  them,  the  struggle  for  existence  has  ceased;   there  should  now 
be  enough  peaceful  leisure  for  all  to  develop  the  best  that  is  in  them." 
Flint  and  Hill:  The  Trust— Its  Book,  Introduction,  p.  35. 

8.  "Development  in  society  involves  the  possibility  of  indefinite 
development   in  man.     It   assumes   that   man   has   not   exhausted  his 
physical   or   his   intellectual   or   his    spiritual   powers.     The    spiritual 
terms  carry  with  them  the  physical  ones;  the  body  can  and  must  keep 
pace  with  the  mind.     There  is  at  no  point  any  indication  of  any  in- 
abilty  to  go  farther.     The  spirtual  affections,  the  wise  and  just  senti- 
ments which  unite  us  to  our  fellow  men,  are  plainly  incipient.    We  are 
only  finding  the  field  which  lies  before  them,  not  reaching  its  limits. 

"Social  evolution  also  postulates  the  possibility  of  indefinite 
progress  in  society.  It  assumes  that  there  is  a  bottom  (and  ultimate- 
ly) no  clash  of  interests;  that  existing  difficulties  are  the  result 


266  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PABT  III 

satisfy,  in  industry  and  commerce,  this  sense  of  race 
solidarity.9  This  sense  of  solidarity  must  make  mat- 
ters of  common  dependence  subject  to  the  common  con- 
trol. It  must  deliver  the  individual  to  himself.  It 
must  deliver  him  from  economic  pressure  by  making 
those  things  which  concern  the  existence  of  all  subject 
to  the  control  of  all.  Then  no  individual  will  any  longer 
be  dependent  on  any  other  individual  for  the  means  of 
life,  or  for  the  opportunity  to  create  the  means  of  life. 
But  that  is  Socialism.  Hence,  the  development  of  the 
sense  of  solidarity  of  the  race  has  been  an  important 
factor  in  the  development  of  Socialism.  It  could  not 
advance  and  fail  to  suggest  what  the  Socialists  pro- 
pose.10 

344.    Capitalism  the  Builder  of  Socialism.— Capital- 


of  deficient  knowledge,  defective  feeling,  and  may  pass  away.  They 
are  simply  the  chaos  that  evolution  is  to  rule  into  creation.  There  is 
no  real,  no  permanent,  self-sacrifice  in  progress.  The  well-being  of  all 
means  the  highest  well-being  of  each.  We  save  ourselves  by  losing 
them." — Bascom:  Social  Theory,  pp.  528-29. 

^  9.  "We  shall  pass  from  class  paternalism,  originally  derived  from 
fetish  fiction  in  times  of  universal  ignorance,  to  human  brotherhood 
in  accordance  with  the  nature  of  things  and  our  growing  knowledge 
of  it;  from  political  government  to  industrial  administration;  from 
competition  in  individualism  to  individuality  in  co-operation;  from 
war  and  despotism,  in  any  form,  to  peace  and  liberty." — Thomas  Car- 
lyle,  Quoted  by  Davidson,  The  Annals  of  Toil,  p.  233. 

10.  "The  belief  that  with  the  stoppage  of  war,  could  it  be  achieved, 
national  vigor  must  decay,  is  based  on  a  complete  failure  to  recognize 
that  the  lower  form  of  struggle  is  stopped  for  the  express  purpose 
and  with  the  necessary  result  that  the  higher  struggle  shall  become 
possible.  With  the  cessation  of  war,  whatever  is  really  vital  and  valu- 
able in  nationality  does  not  perish;  on  the  contrary,  it  grows  and 
thrives  as  it  could  not  do  before,  when  the  national  spirit  out  of 
which  it  grows  was  absorbed  in  baser  sorts  of  struggle. 

"Internationalism  is  no  more  opposed  to  the  true  purposes  of  nation- 
alism than  socialism  within  the  nation,  rightly  guided,  is  hostile  to 
individualism.  The  problem  and  its  solution  are  the  same.  We  socialize 
in  order  that  we  may  individuate;  we  cease  fighting  with  bullets  in 
order  to  fight  with  ideas. 

"All  the  essentials  of  the  biological  struggle  for  life  are  retained, 
the  incentive  to  individual  vigor,  the  intensity  of  the  struggle,  the 
elimination  of  the  unfit  and  the  survival  of  the  fittest. 

"The  struggle  has  become  more  rational  in  mode  and  purpose  and 
result,  and  reason  is  only  a  higher  form  of  nature."  Hobson;  Im- 
perialism, pp.  199-200. 


CHAP.  THE  SENSE  OF  SOLIDARITY  267 

ism  has  Had  its  share  even  in  this  growth  of  the  sense 
of  solidarity  of  the  race.  It  has  helped  to  create  the 
great  institutions  in  industry  and  to  carry  on  great 
enterprises  in  commerce,  which  in  turn  have  helped  to 
enlarge,  if  not  create,  the  very  forces  which  must  over- 
throw capitalism  and  establish  institutions  greater  and 
freer  than  can  be  built  under  capitalism.  And  these 
new  institutions  will  give  us  a  selfhood  more  complete 
and  more  absolute,  whose  greatness  will  realize  not 
only  the  individuality  of  single  human  beings,  but  the 
fullest  sense  of  solidarity  of  race  interests  and  of  race- 
life. 

345.  Summary.— 1.  In  the  beginning  man  had  no 
sense  of  the  race  life.  Neither  had  he  any  sufficient 
appreciation  of  the  individual. 

2.  The  earliest    life    was    the  tribal    life,  which 
neither  recognized  the  relation  of  the  individual  to 
the  race,  nor  gave  any  proper  scope  to  the  selfhood  of 
the  individual  within  the  tribe. 

3.  The  earliest  movement  towards  the  world  life 
was  the  wars  between  the  tribes,  which  finally  led  to 
the  establishment  of  the  ancient  military  despotisms. 
The  great  religions  closely  followed  the  great  con- 
quests and  helped,  in  a  large  degree,  to  teach  the  les- 
son of  the  oneness  of  the  race. 

4.  World-wide  trade  has  broken  over  all  race  lines 
and  national  boundaries  and  brought  the  indivdual 
into  direct  relations  with  the  whole  race  of  man. 

5.  Great  industries  have  compelled  great  companies 
of  men  to  work  together  and  to  realize  their  com- 
mon dependence  and  so  to  come  to  the  discovery  of  a 
common  life  interest. 

6.  Modern  science  has  shown  that  like  causes  pro- 
duce like  results  in  human  affairs  the  same  as  in  all 
other  fields  where  the  operations  of  natural  law  have 


268  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

been  observed  and  studied.    Students  of  these  affairs 
are  made  conscious  of  the  race  solidarity. 

7.  The  realization  of  the  race  life  cannot  come  un- 
der capitalism.  Every  effort  to  satisfy  this  race  life 
is  a  step  in  the  evolution  of  Socialism. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  Give  conditions  of  primitive  life  which  made  impossible  any 
sense  of  the  race  life. 

2.  Show  relations  of  individuals  to  tribal  life. 

3.  By  what  process  were  the  tribal  lines  broken  down  and  the 
individuals  within  and  a  larger  world  force  without  finally  recognized? 

4.  How  have  the  great  religions  affected  the  race  life? 

5.  In  what  way  has  trade  advanced  the  sense  of  oneness  of  all  life  ? 

6.  How  has  the  study  of  natural  law  affected  the  conceptions  of 
the  race  life? 

7.  Explain  how  transmission  of  life  from  generation  to  generation 
intermingles  all  life,  making  all  life  one. 

8.  What  services  have  the  poets  and  prophets  rendered  in  this» 
connection  ? 

9.  Why  were  the  prophets  stoned,  and  why  did  the  poets  escape? 

10.  How  will  Socialism  save  the  individual  from  interference  in 
personal  matters,  and  at  the  same  time  extend  and  satisfy  the  sense  of 
solidarity  ? 

11.  How  is  this  sense  of  solidarity  related  to  character,  and  why 
does  the  continuous  surrender  to  capitalism  make  impossible  the  highest 
character  in  those  who  become  conscious  of  this  oneness  of  the  race  life? 

12.  What  share  has  Capitalism  had  in  the  growth  of  the  sense  of 
solidarity  of  the  race — and  so  in  the  evolution  of  Socialism? 


CHAPTER  XXI 

THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 

343.  The  Economic  Classes.— The  existence  of  eco- 
nomic classes  cannot  be  seriously  denied.    It  is  admit- 
ted that  serious  efforts  have  been  made  to  abolish 
economic  classes,  but  the  steps  taken  have  been  insuf- 
ficient and  at  each  new  turn  in  the  evolution  of  society 
the  economic  classes  have  so  far  remained,  and  must 
remain  until  the  economic  causes  which  perpetuate  the 
economic  classes  are  removed. 

Fraternities,  churches,  brotherhoods,  literature,  art, 
the  noblest  sentiments,  can  never  do  away  with  the 
economic  classes,  so  long  as  economic  inequality  of 
opportunity  shall  continue  to  produce  the  master  and 
the  servant,  the  millionaire  and  the  tramp,  "the  bond- 
holders and  the  vagabonds,"  the  shirkers  and  the 
workers,  those  "who  live  without  working,  and  those 
who  work  without  living. " 

344.  Fixing    the    Class    Lines.— There  are  many 
classes  of  exploiters.    There  are  many  classes  of  work- 
ers.   But  the  class  lines  of  importance  in  economic  con- 
troversies are  not  the  lines  between  different  classes  of 
exploiters  or  between  different  classes  of  workers.    The 
lines  are  clear  enough  between  those  "who  plant  vine- 

269 


270  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

yards  and  do  not  eat  the  fruit  thereof"  and  fhose  who 
do  no  planting,  but  do  the  eating  nevertheless.  The 
lines  are  clear  enough  between  those  who  "build 
houses  and  others  inhabit,"  and  those  who  build  no 
houses,  but  inhabit  those  which  others  build.  The  lines 
are  clear  enough  between  those  who  produce  wealth 
which  they  are  not  permitted  to  enjoy  and  those  who 
enjoy  the  products  of  others,  but  neither  produce  any- 
thing nor  render  any  service  of  any  sort  or  of  any 
value  to  anyone.  The  line  is  clear  enough  between 
those  who  get  something  for  nothing  and  those  who 
get  nothing  for  something.1 

In  the  chapter  on  "The  Middle  Class  and  Socialism" 
will  be  discussed  those  capitalists  who  are  also  work- 
ers and  those  workers  who  are  also  capitalists;  but  for 
the  purposes  of  this  chapter  we  may  safely  follow  the 
broad  lines  here  indicated. 

348.  All  Wars  Class  Wars. -All  of  the  conflicts  of 
history  have  been  class  conflicts.  This  does  not  mean 
that  classes  were  created  in  order  to  carry  on  the  strife. 
It  means  that  large  groups  of  people  having  common 
interests  have  found  that  they  could  not  best  serve 
these  interests  without  coming  into  conflict  with  other 
groups,  and  this  conflict  of  interests  has  been  the  occa- 
sion of  the  conflict  of  classes  whose  interests  were  op- 
posed. The  philosophy  of  the  class  struggle  is  a  direct 

1.  "If  we  examine  attentively  the  societies  developing  at  the  pres- 
ent day  in  the  civilized  countries  in  the  old  and  new  worlds,  they 
present  (we  find)  one  common  phenomenon:  absolutely  and  irrevoc- 
ably all  of  them  fall  into  two  distinct  and  separate  classes;  one  class 
accumulates  in  idleness  enormous  and  ever- increasing  revenues,  the 
other,  far  more  numerous,  labors  life  long  for  miserable  wages;  one 
class  lives  without  working,  the  other  works  without  living — without 
living  a  life,  at  least,  worthy  of  the  name.  When  confronted  by  so 
marked  and  so  painful  a  contrast,  the  question  must  at  once  occur  to 
every  mind  that  reflects :  Is  this  sad  state  of"  affairs  the  result  of  inher- 
ent necessity;  inseparable  from  the  organic  conditions  of  human  nature; 
or  is  it  merely  the  outcome  of  certain  historical  tendencies  that  are 
destined  to  disappear  at  a  later  stage  of  social  evolution?" — Loria: 
Economic  Foundations  of  Society,  p.  1. 


CHAP,  XXI  THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  271 

denial  that  the  struggle  for  existence  is  a  struggle 
of  individuals  only.  It  is  simply  the  recognition  of 
collectivism  in  the  struggle  for  existence.  Either  the 
whole  scope  of  the  collective  struggle  for  existence 
must  be  denied,  or  the  class  struggle,  the  struggle  to- 
gether and  for  each  other,  of  those  whose  interests 
in  the  struggle  for  existence  are  found  to  be  the  same, 
and  against  all  others  whose  interests  are  in  conflict, 
must  be  admitted.  One  collectivity  has  struggled 
against  another  collectivity  because  of  the  question  of 
survival,  not  of  individuals  only,  but  of  whole  classes 
of  individuals. 

349.  Conflicts  Between  the  Exploiters.— There  have 
been  many  struggles  in  the  past  when  the  conflict  was 
to  determine  which  of  the  two  contending  groups 
should  be  permitted  to  exploit  a  third  group  whose 
interests  were  a  matter  of  no  concern  to  either  of  the 
contending  parties.  Probably  the  wars  of  Cromwell 
are  as  clear  a  case  of  a  hotly  contested  battle  between 
economic  classes  for  the  opportunity  to  exploit  a  third 
and  neglected  economic  class,  which,  while  not  repre- 
sented by  either  side  in  the  conflict,  were  the  economic* 
victims  of  the  victors  whichever  way  the  tide  of  battle 
turned.  The  world  powers  contending  with  each  other 
for  the  markets  of  the  Orient  is  a  good  illustration  of 
this  sort  of  conflict.  While  the  contending  parties  all 
belong  to  the  same  economic  class  of  exploiters,  they 
have,  nevertheless,  conflicting  economic  interests  in  the 
struggle  to  determine  which  ones  of  the  exploiting 
countries  shall  have  the  best  chance  at  the  country 
which  all  hold  in  the  same  regard  as  a  hawk  may  be 
supposed  to  hold  its  prey.  Eussia  and  England  find  it 
hard  to  be  friends,  not  because  either  "has  anything 
against  the  other, "  but  because  each  desires  the  largest 
possible  share  of  Chinese  resources  and  markets,  and 
whatever  either  secures  the  other  cannot  have. 


272  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  £ABT  111 

350.  Ruling  Classes  and  Prevailing  Morals.— What- 
ever country  secures  control  of  any  particular  portion 
of  the  Eastern  territory,  immediately  the  institutions, 
laws,  usages  and  morals  of  that  territory  will  proceed 
to  take  the  form  of  the  new  ruling  class. 

So  long  as  class  rule  remains  the  ruling  institutions, 
laws,  usages  and  morals  of  any  given  country  will  be 
those  of  the  ruling  class  of  that  country.  This  is  only 
another  way  of  saying  that  in  the  struggle  for  existence 
it  is  always  true  that  those  which  survive  are  the  ones 
which  survive/  In  the  economic  class  struggle  the  class 
which  has  been  the  master  in  the  control  of  the  means 
of  life  has  been  the  ruling  class,  and  the  working  class 
has  been  able  to  survive  only  as  the  servants  of  these 
exploiting  masters  since  the  original  creation  of  eco- 
nomic class  lines. 

351.  The  Evolution  of  the  Class  Struggle.— In  the 
discussion  of  primitive  life,  and  particularly  in  follow- 
ing the  order  of  human  progress  under  primitive  insti- 
tutions, it  was  discovered  that  there  were  no  eco- 
nomic class  struggles  either  in  savagery  or  in  barbar- 
ism.    The  economic  class  war  made  its  beginning  in 
the  world  as  the  result  of  barbarian  wars  of  conquest. 
It  began  with  the  beginning  of  slavery.    It  changed 
form  in  the  interest  of  the  master  class  to  serfdom,  and 
finally,  in  the  interest  of  the  same  master  class,  into  the 
wage  system.    The  struggle  has  been  followed  from  its 
beginning  with  the  beginning  of  civilization,  through 
the  various  forms  of  servitude,  including  capitalism, 
down  to  the  present.     Today  capitalism  is  both  the 
economic  and  political  expression  of  the  interests  of 
the  masters,  while  Socialism  is  equally  the  economic 
and  political  expression  of  the  interests  of  the  toilers. 

352.  Conflicting  Economic  Interests.— So  long  as 
capitalism  remains  the  workers  can  be  workers  only 


CHAP.  XXI  THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  273 

with  the  consent  of  the  idlers.  They  cannot  manage 
their  own  industries.  They  cannot  fix  their  own  hours 
of  labor.  They  cannot  determine  either  the  terms  or 
the  conditions  under  which  they  labor.  They  cannot 
appropriate  to  their  own  use  the  products  of  their  own 
toil. 

If  the  workers  are  to  be  given  joint  ownership  in  the 
means  of  production,  equal  voice  in  the  management 
of  the  industries  and  equal  opportunity  to  become 
workers,  then  capitalism  must  necessarily  cease.2 

The  struggle  of  capitalism  to  perpetuate  itself  is  not 
a  struggle  to  defend  old  rights  or  to  protect  old  inter- 
ests. It  is  an  effort  to  continue  to  control  the  labor  of 
others  and  to  continue  to  appropriate  the  products  of 
others. 

The  co-operative  commonwealth  cannot  be  estab- 
lished without  the  burial  of  capitalism.  The  workers 
cannot  increase  their  share  of  their  products  without 
diminishing  the  share  of  the  capitalists. 

2.  "Of  all  the  intellectual  difficulties  of  individualism,  the  greatest, 
perhaps,  is  that  which  is  presented  by  the  constant  flux  of  things. 
Whatever  may  be  the  advantages  and  the  conveniences  of  the  present 
state  of  society,  we  are,  at  any  rate,  all  of  us,  now  sure  of  one  thing — 
that  it  can  not  last. 

"We  have  learnt  to  think  of  social  institutions  and  economic  rela- 
tions as  being  as  much  the  subjects  of  constant  change  and  evolution 
as  any  biological  organism.  The  main  outlines  of  social  organization, 
based  upon  the  exact  sphere  of  private  ownership  in  England  today, 
did  not  'come  down  from  the  Mount.'  " 

"The  very  last  century  has  seen  an  almost  complete  upsetting  of 
every  economic  and  industrial  relation  in  the  country,  and  it  is  irra- 
tional to  assume  that  the  existing  social  order,  thus  new- created,  is 
destined  inevitably  to  endure  in  its  main  features  unchanged  and 
unchangeable.  History  did  not  stop  with  the  last  great  convulsion  of 
the  Industrial  Revolution,  and  Time  did  not  then  suddenly  cease  to 
be  the  great  Innovator.  *****  Thus,  it  is  the  constant  flux 
of  things  which  underlies  all  the  'difficulties'  of  individualism.  What- 
ever we  may  think  of  the  existing  social  order,  one  thing  is  certain — 
namely,  that  it  will  undergo  modification  in  the  future  as  certainly  and 
as  steadily  as  in  the  past.  Those  modifications  will  be*  partly  the 
result  of  forces  not  consciously  initiated  or  directed  by  human  will. 
Partly,  however,  the  modifications  will  be  the  results,  either  intended 
or  unintended,  of  deliberate  attempts  to  readjust  the  social  environment 
to  suit  man's  real  or  fancied  needs.  It  is  therefore  not  a  question  of 
whether  the  existing  social  order  shall  be  changed,  but  of  how  this 
inevitable  change  shall  be  made." — Webb:  Problems  of  Modern  Indus- 
try, pp.  229-30. 


274  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

As  the  workers  cannot  increase  the  share  they  are 
getting,  to  say  nothing  of  appropriating  the  total  pro- 
duct of  their  industries— which  is  justly  theirs— with- 
out directly  antagonizing  the  interests  of  the  capital- 
ists, there  is,  consequently,  no  way  by  which  these 
questions  can  be  fought  out  "to  a  finish"  along  any 
other  line  than  the  line  of  the  mutual  antagonisms  re- 
sulting from  these  necessarily  conflicting  interests  be- 
tween the  workers  and  the  idlers. 

353.  Class  Consciousness.— To  see  clearly  that  two 
great  economic  classes  have  existed  in  history,  that 
they  still  exist— to  be  aware  of  the  conflict  of  interests 
between  these  classes,  that  is,  between  the  exploiters 
and  the  victims  of  the  exploitation— to  realize  one's 
identity  with  his  own  class,  is  a  necessary  condition  to 
taking  one's  most  effective  part  on  either  side  of  this 
class  struggle;  and  this  is  what  is  meant  by  being 
class  conscious. 

354.  "  States  of  Consciousness. "— John  Fiske  says 
that  "Life  in  the  animal  world  is  a  series  of  states  of 
consciousness. ' '    Any  organism  is  alive  just  in  propor- 
tion as  it  is  conscious,  and  in  that  proportion  only  will 
it  struggle  for  existence.    It  is  true  that  one  may  be 
class  conscious  with  but  a  slight  degree  of  conscious- 
ness.   One  may  know  and  realize  that  there  are  eco- 
nomic classes  without  intensely  feeling  his  own  iden- 
tity of  interest  with  either  class.     He   may   have    a 
shadowy  sort  of  consciousness  without  having  a  real- 
ization of  the  matter  and  of  the  necessity  of  this  eco- 
nomic class  war. 

One  may  be  conscious  of  some  disorder  in  his  own 
physical  constitution.  This  disorder  may  be  really 
fatal,  but  the  victim  will  not  rise  to  the  death-struggle 
unless  he  is  not  only  conscious  of  the  disorder,  but 
conscious  of  the  very  serious  danger  of  his  malady. 
One  stupefied  with  drink  has  a  form  of  consciousness 


CHAP.  XXI  THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  275 

and  will  make  some  effort  to  protect  himself,  but  he 
cannot  be  as  practical,  as  careful,  as  effective,  as  if 
wholly  in  possession  of  himself,  as  if  in  a  more  perfect 
state  of  consciousness.  A  sleeping  child  can  protect 
itself  but  little,  if  at  all.  It  comes  into  more  effective- 
ness in  the  struggle  for  existence  when  half  awake. 
Only  when  wide  awake,  however,  can  it  use  to  the 
utmost  its  powers  of  self-preservation.  This  holds  in 
the  life  of  groups  and  classes  as  well  as  in  all  other 
forms  of  organic  existence.  The  working  class,  un- 
conscious of  its  solidarity,  unconscious  of  its  power, 
unconscious  of  its  relations  to  the  exploiters,  may  be 
said  to  be  in  the  sleeping  stage  of  class  consciousness. 
It  is  not  enough  that  the  worker  shall  be  half  awake. 
He  must  be  altogether  awake.  He  must,  altogether 
realize  his  relations  to  his  fellows,  and  how  he  is  re- 
lated to  the  strugglers  in  this  struggle  of  economic 
classes,  and  how  vitally  essential  to  his  own  welfare  is 
the  triumph  of  his  class.3 

3.  "While  modern  plutocracy  is  not  a  form  of  government  in  the 
same  sense  that  the  other  forms  mentioned  are,  it  is,  nevertheless, 
easy  to  see  that  its  power  is  as  great  as  any  government  has  ever 
wielded.  The  test  of  governmental  power  is  usually  the  manner  in 
which  it  taxes  the  people,  and  the  strongest  indictments  ever  drawn 
up  against  the  worst  forms  of  tyranny  have  been  those  which  recited 
the  oppressive  methods  of  extorting  tribute.  But  tithes  are  regarded  as 
oppressive,  and  a  fourth  part  of  the  yield  of  any  industry  would 
justify  a  revolt.  Yet  today  there  are  many  commodities  for  which  the 
people  pay  two  or  three  times  as  much  as  would  cover  the  cost  of  pro- 
duction, transportation  and  exchange  at  fair  wages  and  fair  profits. 
The  monopolies  in  many  lines  actually  tax  the  consumer  from  25  to  75 
per  cent  of  the  real  value  of  the  goods.  Imagine  an  excise  tax  that 
should  approach  these  figures!  It  was  shown  in  Chapter  XXXIII  that 
under  the  operation  of  either  monopoly  or  aggressive  competition  the 
price  of  everything  is  pushed  up  to  the  maximum  limit  that  will  be 
paid  for  the  commodity  in  profitable  quantities,  and  this  wholly  irrespec- 
tive of  the  cost  of  production.  No  government  in  the  world  has  now,  or 
ever  has  had,  the  power  to  enforce  such  an  extortion  as  this.  It  is  a 
governing  power  in  the  interests  of  favored  individuals,  which  exceeds 
that  of  the  most  powerful  monarch  or  despot  that  ever  wielded  a 
scepter.  * 

"The  individual  has  reigned  long  enough.  The  day  has  come  for 
society  to  take  its  affairs  into  its  own  hands  and  shape  its  own 
destinies.  The  individual  has  acted  as  best  he  could.  He  has  acted 
in  the  only  way  he  could.  With  a  consciousness,  will,  and  intellect  of 


276  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

355.  The  Irrepressible  Warfare.— The  age-long 
class  war  is  nearing  a  final  crisis;  and  in  that  final 
conflict  all  those  who  are  willing  to  serve  in  any  way 
will  be  found  together,  and  all  those  who  exact  ser- 
vice, or  wish  to  exact  service,  for  which  they  wish  to 
render  no  corresponding  service  in  return— all  these 
will  be  found  together.  And  between  these  two  classes 
the  economic  and  political  battle  must  be  fought  out 
"to  a  finish."  There  can  be  no  compromise  in  the 
nature  of  the  case.  Nothing  but  unconditional  sur- 
render can  end  the  war.  If  the  workers  surrender, 
nothing  but  the  continuance  of  dependence  and  poverty 
can  come  to  them  as  a  result  while  capitalism  lasts, 
and  the  collapse  of  capitalism  will  come  just  the  same. 

If  capitalism  does  not  surrender,  its  collapse  cannot 
be  avoided  by  any  victory  which  it  can  possibly  gain 
over  the  working  people.  If  capitalism  does  surrender, 
as  sooner  or  later  it  must  surrender,  the  workers  will 
become  the  masters,  but  as  all  men  and  women  must 
then  become  useful  people,  serving  others  if  they  ex- 
pect the  service  of  others,  economic  class  lines  must 
disappear  at  once  and  for  all  time. 

The  economic  class  lines  established  in  the  world  by 
the  misfortune  of  barbarian  wars,  perpetuated  through 
out  the  whole  period  of  civilization  by  the  force  of  the 
military,  which  now  condemns  the  workers  to  condi- 
tions to  which  they  would  never  submit,  were  the  tasks 


his  own  he  could  do  nothing  else  than  pursue  his  natural  ends.  He 
should  not  be  denounced  nor  called  names.  He  should  not  even  be 
blamed.  Nay,  he  should  be  praised,  and  even  imitated.  Society  should 
learn  its  great  lesson  from  him,  should  follow  the  path  he  has  so  clearly 
laid  out  that  leads  to  success.  It  should  imagine  itself  an  individual, 
with  all  the  interests  of  an  individual,  and  becoming  fully  conscious 
of  these  interests  it  should  pursue  them  with  the  same  indomitable  will 
with  which  the  individual  pursues  his  interests.  Not  only  this,  it  must 
be  guided,  as  he  is  guided,  by  the  social  intellect,  armed  with  all  the 
knowledge  that  all  individuals  combined,  with  so  great  labor,  zeal,  and 
talent,  have  placed  in  its  possession,  constituting  the  social  intelli- 
gence."—Ward :  Psychic  Factors  of  Civilization,  pp.  322  *  *  *  24, 


CHAP.  XXI  THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  fc;r 

of  the  toilers  once  free  from  the  guards  of  the  soldiers 
—this  age-long  class  war  will  end  with  the  triumph  of 
the  working  class. 

356.  The  Evolution  of  Socialism.— It  was  the  com- 
ing of  slavery,  the  result  of  barbarian  wars  and  the 
earliest  form  of  capitalism,  which  brought  into  exist- 
ence the  economic  class  struggle.    Every  step  in  the 
development  of  modern  capitalism  has  intensified  the 
conflict  of  interests  between  the  beneficiaries  of  cap- 
italism and  the  victims  of  capitalism.    So  long  as  cap- 
italism lasts  this  conflict  of  interests  must  remain. 
So  long  as  the  interests  of  these  economic  classes  are 
opposed  to  each  other,  so  long  these  classes  must  be 
at  war  and  cannot  be  at  peace.    No  possible  victory 
of  capitalism  can  end  the  conflict  of  interests  and  so 
end  the  class  war.    Every  blow  that  is  struck  in  this 
class  war  is  making  more  evident,  and  in  the  end  must 
make  it  absolutely  clear  to  all  men,  that  only  by  end- 
ing capitalism  can  this  age-long  warfare  of  economic 
classes  be  ended  also.     It  is  becoming  equally  clear 
that  the  only  way  to  make  an  end  of  capitalism  is  to 
make  a  beginning  of  Socialism.    And  hence,  the  crea- 
tion of  economic  classes  by  capitalism  and  the  pitiless 
class  war  under  capitalism  becomes  a  factor  of  the 
first  importance  in  the  evolution  of  Socialism.    And 
Socialism  is  the  final  working  program  of  the  working 
man's  side  of  this  age-long  economic  class  war. 

357.  Summary.— 1.    Economic  classes  do  exist. 

2.  The  economic  class  war  is  the  result  of  the  con- 
flict of  the  economic  interests  of  the  economic  classes. 

3.  The  master  class  is  always  the  class  in  control 
of  economic  opportunities. 

4.  The  class  which  is  dependent  on  others  for  eco- 
nomic opportunities  will  be  dependent  in  all  other  re- 
lations. 


278  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

5.  The  class  war  cannot  be  ended  so  long  as  con- 
flicting economic  interests  remain. 

6.  The  working  class  cannot  bring  industrial  peace 
by  any  surrender  it  can  possibly  make  because  con- 
flicting economic  interests  will  still  remain. 

7.  The  master  class  cannot  avoid  disaster  by  any 
victory  it  can  gain  over  the  working  class.     Mutual 
strife  among  the  masters  will  continue  the  process  of 
mutual  self-destruction. 

8.  Equal  economic  opportunity  for  all  men  will  end 
the  class  war  by  removing  the  cause  of  the  existence 
of  economic  classes. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  Describe  the  economic  classes. 

2.  What  is  characteristic  of  all  the  wars? 

3.  Give    instances    of    economic    wars    between    members    of    the 
master  class. 

4.  Give  an  account  of  the  evolution  of  the  economic  class  struggle  - 

5.  Can  the  class  war  cease  and  capitalism  continue? 

6.  What  is  meant  by  class  consciousness? 

7.  Can  there  be  degrees  of  class  consciousness? 

8.  How  many  sides  will  be  engaged  in  the  final  conflict  of  the 
economic  class  war? 

9.  What  will  end  the  economic  class  struggle? 

10.  How  is  Socialism  related  to  this  economic  class  struggle? 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE  COLLAPSE  OF  CAPITALISM  AND  THE  TRIUMPH  OF 
SOCIALISM 

358.  The  Inevitable  Collapse.— It  has  been  seen  in 
Chapter  XI  how  inevitable  is  the  collapse  of  capital- 
ism. It  is  the  purpose  here  to  show  that  the  collapse 
of  capitalism  is  not  more  inevitable  than  the  triumph 
of  Socialism  is  certain. 

Capitalism  must  finally  collapse  because,  first,  when 
a  single  group  of  owners  own  the  earth,  it  will  be  im- 
possible for  them  to  re-invest  their  profits.  Profits  in 
excess  of  personal  expenditures  which  cannot  be  re-in- 
vested but  must  accumulate,  can  be  of  no  advantage 
to  their  possessors.  Second,  capitalism  must  collapse 
because  when  all  the  world  becomes  one  work-shop— 
as  well  as  one  market— there  can  then  be  no  outside 
market  for  the  products  which  the  workers  produce 
but  cannot  buy,  and  which  their  employers  own  but 
cannot  consume.  And  finally,  capitalism  must  col- 
lapse because,  when  all  of  the  dominant  industrial 
activities  of  the  world  are  under  a  single  centralized 
ownership,  the  management  of  these  industries  can 
no  longer  employ  tlu?  workers  in  producing  goods 
which  they  cannot  sell,  nor  in  earning  profits  which 
they  cannot  re-invest. 

279 


280  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

359.  If  Capitalism  Remains.— If  capitalism  must  re- 
main after  it  has  wrought  its  service  and  accomplished 
its  work  and  reached  the  end  of  all  possible  devel- 
opment under  that  method  of  organization  and  man- 
agement of  the  industries,— then  the  distress  of  the 
workers  must  be  world- wide  and  most  appalling,  while 
all  interest  and  incentive  for  the  capitalist  under  cap- 
italism must  utterly  fail  because  the  game  has  been 
played  "to  a  finish"  and  further  activity  or  achieve- 
ment in  the  line  of  capitalism  is  utterly  impossible. 

360.  Need  Not  Remain.— But  capitalism  does  not 
need  to  remain.    Having  conquered  the  earth,  the  des- 
potic military  organization  of  the  work-shop,  the  mar- 
ket and  the  government,  will  be  no  longer  necessary, 
for  the  age-long  period  of  conquest  will  have  reached 
its  consummation.    There  will  be  no  more  worlds  to 
conquer.    This  will  be  true  in  war,  in  politics,  in  trade, 
—and  the  co-operative  commonwealth  must  certainly 
follow.     The  world-conauest  will  have  prepared  the 
way. 

361.  Failure  of  Incentive  Under  Capitalism.— The 
swords  and  spears  of  capitalism,  no  longer  needed  in 
the  work  of  conquest,  must  then  reinforce  the  pruning 
hooks  and  ploughshares  of  productive  industry.    But 
if  this  be  true,  then  production  must  be  carried  on  for 
some  other  purpose  than  for  profits.    Goods  must  be 
produced,  not  in  order  that  they  may  be  sold,  in  order 
that  more  goods  may  be  bought,  in  order  that  more 
goods  may  be  sold,  for  when  this  process  has  bought 
and  sold  the  earth,  the  interest  in  accumulation  must 
cease  and  with  it  the  game  itself.1 

362.  Producing  for  the  Products.— But  goods  may 
be  produced,  even  then,  for  the  use  of  the  producers. 

1.  "It  is  indeed  certain  that  industrial  society  will  not  perma- 
nently remain  without  a  systematic  organization.  The  mere  conflict 
of  private  interests  will  never  produce  a  well-ordered  commonwealth 
of  labor."— Ingram:  History  of  Political  Economy,  p.  244. 


CHAP.  XXII  THE  TRIUMPH  OF  SOCIALISM  281 

Goods  produced  not  in  order  that  they  may  be  used 
but  in  order  that  they  may  be  sold,  are  called  commod^ 
ities.  Today  the  whole  earth  is  given  over  to  the  pro- 
duction of  commodities.  But  in  primitive  production 
goods  were  produced  not  to  be  sold  in  the  market  but 
to  be  stored  in  the  tribal  storehouse  against  the  day 
of  need.  The  Pueblo  Indians  to  this  day  carry  a  stock 
of  two  years'  provisions  in  excess  of  their  needs.  And 
if,  for  any  reason,  the  stock  falls  below  this  limit, 
immediately  all  tribesmen  are  put  on  rations  until  the 
two  years'  surplus  is  restored.  Here  is  a  motive  for 
industry  which  does  not  involve  producing  for  a  mar- 
ket, but  simply  involves  producing  for  human  needs. 

363.  Filling  the  Store-house  and  Leisure  for  AIL— 
When  capitalistic  conquest  shall  have  made  the  world 
into  one  work-shop  and  into  one  market-place,  and 
cannot  any  longer  produce  for  the  sake  of  the  market, 
in  order  to  enlarge  the  market  which  will  then  have 
been  enlarged  to  its  utmost  limit,  we  shall  not  need  to 
abandon  the  store-houses ;  we  shall  not  need  to  abandon 
the  shops.  We  can  fill  them  with  goods  as  they  have 
never  been  filled,  only  the  goods  will  belong  to  the 
producers  and  will  be  theirs  for  their  own  use. 

Production  will  not  need  to  stop  because  there  will 
no  longer  be  a  foreign  market  for  the  goods  nor  invest- 
ments for  profits  from  the  surplus  which  the  workers 
produce  but  cannot  buy.  Goods  can  be  produced  for 
the  world's  store-house.  The  race  will  not  need  to  live 
within  a  few  months  of  the  line  of  starvation.  The 
power  of  the  workers  to  take  goods  out  of  the  store- 
house can  be  made  equal  to  their  service  in  putting 
goods  into  the  store-house.  And  when  production  has 
been  carried  beyond  both  the  current  need  and  "the 
rainy  day,"  the  hours  of  labor  may  be  shortened  and 
leisure  placed  within  the  reach  of  all. 

The  exploiter,  unable  to  privately  appropriate  the 


282  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

products  of  others  and  then  dispose  of  the  products 
so  appropriated,  must  become  himself  a  producer  for 
use  along  with  the  rest. 

When  private  capitalism  owns  the  earth  and  cannot 
use  it,  the  people  of  the  earth  will  be  able  both  to  use 
it  and  to  provide  some  way  by  which  they  may  own  it 
in  order  that  they  may  use  it.2 

364.  End  of  Monopoly,  Tyranny  and  Inequality.- 
Wherever  despotism  has  collapsed,  democracy  has 
been  re-established.  When  the  despotism  of  trade 
shall  have  collapsed,  democracy  will  reassert  itself  in 
the  shops  and  store-houses  of  the  world.  When  the 
inequality  which  has  been  created  by  industry  whose 
motive  has  been  conquest,  finds  the  groups  of  the 
workers  democratically  managing  the  means  of  pro- 
duction, it  is  impossible  that  any  will  be  excluded. 
When  capitalism,  which  has  been  the  oppressor  and 
the  robber  and  the  master  of  all,  shall  give  up  the 
keys  to  the  earth's  treasures,  and  surrenders  its  place 
of  mastery,  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  the  surren- 
der being  made  to  any  share  of  the  workers  less  than 
to  all  alike. 

The  collapse  of  capitalism  means  the  end  of  monop- 
oly in  ownership,  the  end  of  petty  personal  tyranny  in 
management  and  the  end  of  inequality  of  opportunity, 
—all  of  which  are  essential  and  necessary  parts  of  cap- 
italism. 

Collectivism  is  the  only  possible  alternative  from 
monopoly;  democracy  the  only  possible  alternative 

2.    "Marxian  Socialists  are  not  prophets. 

"Our  sincere  wish  is  that  the  social  revolution,  when  its  evolution 
shall  be  ripe,  may  be  effected  peacefully,  as  so  many  other  revolutions 
have  been  without  bloodshed — like  the  English  Revolution,  which  pre- 
ceded by  a  century,  with  its  Bill  of  Rights,  the  French  Revolution; 
like  the  Italian  Revolution  in  Tuscany  in  1859;  like  the  Brazilian  Revo- 
lution, with  the  exile  of  the  Emperor  Dom  Pedro,  in  1892. 

"It  is  certain  that  Socialism,  by  spreading  education  and  culture 
among  the  people,  by  organizing  the  workers  into  a  class-conscious 
party  under  its  banner,  is  only  increasing  the  probability  of  the  ful- 
fillment of  our  hope." — Ferri:  Socialism  and  Modern  Science,  p.  153. 


CHAP.  XXII  THE  TRIUMPH  OF  SOCIALISM  283 

from  tyranny;  equality  the  only  possible  remedy  for 
the  wrong  of  inequality.  Collectivism,  democracy 
equality,— the  collective  ownership,  democratic  man- 
agement and  equal  opportunity  in  the  use  of  the  col- 
lectively owned  means  of  producing  the  means  of  life, 
—is  the  next  order  in  the  affairs  of  the  race. 

365.  Conclusion.— The  evolution,  culmination  and 
collapse  of  capitalism  are  parts  of  the  processes  of 
the  evolution  of  Socialism.  The  evolution  of  Socialism 
as  related  to  the  evolution  of  capitalism  is  simply  the 
larger  whole  comprising  the  smaller  part.  The  evolu- 
tion of  Socialism  is  vastly  more  extended  in  time,  more 
comprehensive  in  the  number  and  importance  of  the 
interests  involved  and  in  its  culmination,  in  the  inau- 
guration of  the  co-operative  commonwealth,  it  will 
carry  over  to  this  social  successor  of  capitalism  all 
that  had  been  achieved  before  capitalism,  all  that  has 
been  achieved  by  capitalism  and  all  that  has  been 
achieved  by  all  other  social  factors  and  forces  exist- 
ing under  capitalism,  so  far  as  the  things  which  have 
been  achieved  can  be  of  any  further  social  service  in 
the  struggle  for  existence.3  The  race  life,  escaping 
from  capitalism  and  entering  into  Socialism,  will  not 
only  continue  its  evolution  under  new  conditions,  but 
will  at  last  escape  from  the  monopoly,  tyranny  and 
inequality  of  capitalism,  resulting  from  the  ignorance 

3.  "As  long  as  the  structure  and  the  volume  of  the  center  of  crys- 
tallization, the  germ,  or  the  embryo,  increase  gradually,  we  have  a 
gradual  and  continuous  process  of  evolution,  which  must  be  followed  at 
a  definite  stage  by  a  process  of  revolution,  more  or  less  prolonged, 
represented,  for  example,  by  the  separation  of  the  entire  crystal  from 
the  mineral  mass  which  surrounds  it,  or  by  certain  revolutionary  phases 
of  vegetable  or  animal  life,  as  for  example,  the  moment  of  sexual 
reproduction. ;  *  * 

"These  same  processes  also  occur  in  the  human  world.  By  evolution 
must  be  understood  the  transformation  that  takes  place  day  by  day, 
which  is  almost  unnoticed,  but  continuous  and  inevitable;  by  revolution, 
the  critical  and  decisive  movement,  more  or  less  prolonged,  of  an  evolu- 
tion that  has  reached  its  concluding  phase ;  * 

"It  must  be  remarked,  in  the  first  place,  that  while  revolution  and 
evolution  are  normal  functions  of  social  physiology,  rebellion  and 


284  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIALISM  PART  III 

and  strife  of  the  childhood  of  the  race,— but  at  last  out- 
grown.   And  then:    Brotherhood. 

366.    Summary.— 1.    The  economic  class  struggle  is 
caused  by  a  conflict  of  economic  interests. 

2.  The  economic  class  struggle  is  between  the  bene- 
ficiaries and  the  victims  of  capitalism. 

3.  Economic  classes  must  necessarily  exist  under 


individual  violence  are  symptoms  of  social  pathology." — Ferri:  Social- 
ism and  Modern  Science,  pp.  139-40. 

"This  is  not  mere  sentimentality;  it  is  the  logical  outcome  of 
forces  always  at  work  within  and  around  us.  Just  as  there  has  come 
a  time  when,  on  this  continent  at  least,  war  has  given  all  of  good  that 
it  has  to  give,  so  is  there  coming  a  time  when  competition — which  is 
industrial  war — will  have  conferred  on  the  nation  all  its  possible  benefits. 
A  perfected  system  of  co-operation  is  the  promise  to  civilized  mankind 
of  existing  tendencies."— The  Trust:  Its  Book  (Flint,  Hill,  etc.),  Intro- 
duction, pp.  32-35. 

"No  mind  in  our  civilization  has,  in  all  probability,  as  yet  imagined 
the  full  possibilities  of  the  collective  organization — under  the  direction 
of  a  highly  centralized  and  informed  intelligence  acting  under  the 
sense  of  responsibility  here  described — of  all  the  activities  of  industry 
and  production,  moving  s!:adily  towards  the  goal  of  the  endowment  of 
all  human  crpacities  in  r*  l-i'cc,  conflict  of  forces.  It  is  only  necessary 
for  the  observer  who  h:  '  oT::""  grasped  the  meaning  of  the  development 
described  in  th  i  precedii,  J  chapters  to  stand  at  almost  any  point  in  the 
life  of  the  English-speaking  world  of  the  present  day  to  realize  how  far 
society  has,  in  reality,  moved  beyond  that  conception  of  its  joint  effort 
which  prevailed  in  the  early  period  of  the  competitive  era — the  con- 
ception of  the  state  as  an  irresponsible  and  almost  brainless  Colossus, 
organized  primarily  towards  the  end  of  securing  men  in  possession  of 
the  gains  they  had  obtained  in  an  uncontrolled  scramble  for  gain 
divorped  from  all  sense  of  responsibility. 

Nevertheless,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  peoples  who  have  lived 
through  this  phase  of  the  competitive  process,  and  amongst  whom  such 
competition  as  has  prevailed  has  achieved  the  highest  results,  will  start 
towards  the  new  era  with  a  great  advantage  in  their  favor.  For  it 
must  be  expected  that,  where  the  development  in  progress  continues 
to  be  efficiently  maintained,  the  new  system  will  succeed  the  old, 
not  by  force  or  coercion,  but  by  its  own  merits;  and,  in  conditions 
in  which  it  will  become  the  increasing  function  of  an  informed  and 
centralized  system  of  public  opinion  to  hold  continually  before  the 
general  mind  through  all  the  phases  of  public  activity — local,  social, 
political,  and  international — the  character  of  the  principles  governing 
the  epoch  of  development  on  which  we  have  entered;  and  to  see  that 
the  benefits  accruing  from  the  era  of  competition  through  which  we 
have  lived  shall  be  retained  and  increased  for  society  by  compelling 
the  new  social  order  to  make  its  way  simply  on  its  merits  in  free 
and  fair  rivalry  with  those  activities  of  private  effort  which  it  is 
destined  to  supersede." — Kidd;  Principles  of  Western  Civilization, 
p.  480  and  preceding. 


CHAP.  XXII  THE  TRIUMPH  OF  SOCIALISM  285 

capitalism.    Without  economic  classes  there  is  no  cap- 
italism. 

4.  So  long  as  capitalism  continues  the  economic 
class  struggle  must  continue. 

5.  The  collapse  of  capitalism  will  end  the  conflict 
of  economic  interests. 

6.  The  coming  of  Socialism  will  provide  for  the 
continuance  of  industry  without  the  exploitation  of 
the  workers  and,  hence,  with  no  conflict  of  economic 
interests  and  therefore  will  make  an  end  of  the  eco- 
nomic class  struggle,  and  because  of  this  a  beginning 
of  a  universal  brotherhood,  a  race  no  longer  divided 
against  itself. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  Describe  the  economic  classes. 

2.  What  relation  has  the  fact  of  the  collective  struggle  for  exist- 
ence to  the  economic  class  struggle? 

3.  Under  what  conditions  have  great  conflicts  taken  place  between 
exploiters  ? 

4.  Why   are  the  ruling  institutions,  usages  and  morals   of  any 
country  the  institutions,  usages  and  morals  of  the  ruling  class  ? 

5.  Trace  the  evolution  of  the  class  struggle. 

6.  What  are  some  of  the  points  in  controversy  in  the  economic 
class  struggle  ? 

7.  What  is  class-consciousness? 

8.  Are  there  degrees  of  consciousness  ? 

9.  Why  is  the  conflict  irrepressible? 

10.  What  will  end  the  class  struggle? 

11.  How  is  the  economic  class  struggle  related  to  the  evolution 
of  Socialism? 


PART  IV 

SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  QUESTIONS  OF  CON- 
TROVERSY  BETWEEN  CAPITALISTS 
AND  SOCIALISTS 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

FOR    WHAT    PURPOSES    MAY    THE    STATE    EXIST 

367.  The  Struggle  to  Survive.— Collectivism  is  in- 
herent in  nature.    It  is  present  in  all  the  lower  forms 
of  life.    It  was  and  is  an  essential  condition  of  the 
survival  of  the  human  race  in  its  struggles  for  exist- 
ence.   It  is  ahsurd  to  admit  that  any  organism  may  ex- 
ist, and  yet  deny  to  it  the  right  to  do  its  utmost  to  pre- 
serve and  to  defend  its  own  existence.1 

368.  Government  a  Factor  in  the  Struggle  to  Sur- 
vive.—If  government  is  understood  to  he  the  function 
of  society  by  which  it  seeks  to  defend  itself  and  to  pro- 
vide for  its  own  welfare  then  to  deny  that  the  govern- 

1.  "They  [the  anarchists]  combat  Marxian  Socialism  because  it 
is  law-abiding  and  parliamentary,  and  they  contend  that  the  most 
efficacious  and  the  surest  mode  of  social  transformation  is  rebellion. 

"These  assertions,  which  respond  to  the  vagueness  of  the  sentiments 
and  ideas  of  too  large  a  portion  of  the  working  class  and  to  the  im- 
patience provoked  by  their  wretched  condition,  may  meet  with  a  tem- 
porary, unintelligent  approval;  but  their  effect  can  only  be  ephemeral. 
The  explosion  of  a  bomb  may  indeed  give  birth  to  a  momentary  emotion, 
but  it  cannot  advance  by  the  hundredth  part  of  an  inch  the  evolution 
in  men's  minds  towards  Socialism,  while  it  causes  a  reaction  in  feeling, 
a  reaction  in  part  sincere,  but  skillfully  fomented  and  exploited  as  a 
pretext  for  repression." — Ferri:  Socialism  and  Modern  Science,  pp. 

286 


CHAP.  XXIII  PURPOSES  OF  THE  STATE  287 

ment  may  exist  at  all  is  to  deny  to  the  social  organism 
the  right  which  must  be  conceded  to  all  organisms, 
namely,  the  right  to  do  its  utmost  to  preserve  and  to 
defend  its  own  existence.  Whatever  theories  one  may 
entertain  as  to  the  nature  and  origin  of  rights,  the  fact 
is  that  all  forms  of  life  do  exert  themselves  to  the  utter- 
most in  the  effort  to  survive  in  the  struggle  for  exist- 
ence. The  collectivism  of  all  sociable  animals,  includ- 
ing man,  is  only  a  means  to  this  end  in  this  struggle  for 
existence.  The  establishment  of  regularly  constituted 
authorities  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  the  peace 
within  and  for  protecting  the  collectivity  from  enemies 
without  is  only  one  form  of  the  collective  struggle  for 
existence.2 

2.  "The  course  of  history  is  a  struggle  against  nature,  against 
need,  ignorance  and  impotence,  and,  therefore,  against  bondage  of  every 
kind  in  which  we  were  held  under  the  law  of  nature  at  the  beginning 
of  history.  The  progressive  overcoming  of  this  impotence — this  is  the 
evolution  of  liberty,  whereof  history  is  an  account.  In  this  struggle 
we  should  never  have  made  one  step  in  advance,  and  we  should  never 
take  a  further  step,  if  we  had  gone  into  the  struggle  singly,  each  for 
himself. 

"Now,  the  state  is  precisely  this  contemplated  unity  and  co-opera- 
tion of  individuals  in  a  moral  whole,  whose  function  it  is  to  carry  on 
this  struggle,  a  combination  which  multiplies  a  million-fold  the  force 
of  all  the  individuals  comprised  in  it,  which  heightens  a  million-fold 
the  powers  which  each  individual  singly  would  be  able  to  exert. 

"The  end  of  the  state,  therefore,  is  not  simply  to  secure  to  each 
individual  that  personal  freedom  and  that  property  with  which 
the  bourgeois  principle  assumes  that  the  individual  enters  the  state 
organization  at  the  outset,  but  which  in  point  of  fact  are  first  afforded 
him  in  and  by  the  state.  On  the  contrary,  the  end  of  the  state  can  be 
no  other  than  to  accomplish  that  which,  in  the  nature  of  things,  is  and 
always  has  been  the  function  of  the  state,  in  set  terms:  by  combining 
individuals  into  a  state  organization  to  enable  them  to  achieve  such 
ends  and  to  attain  such  a  level  of  existence  as  they  could  riot  achieve 
as  isolated  individuals. 

"The  ultimate  and  intrinsic  end  of  the  state,  therefore,  is  to 
further  the  positive  unfolding,  the  progressive  development  of  human 
life.  In  other  words,  its  function  is  to  work  out  in  actual  achievement 
the  true  end  of  man;  that  is  to  say,  the  full  degree  of  culture  of  which 
human  nature  is  capable.  It  is  the  education  and  evolution  of  mankind 
into  freedom." — Lassalle :  Science  and  =the  Workingman,  pp.  36-36. 

"The  state,  being  the  institute  of  justice,  and  by  its  nature  all- 
inclusive,  represents  the  most  perfect  form  of  co-operation  possible. 
The  large  undertakings  now  successfully  carried  out  by  private  corpor- 
ations can  be  still  more  successfully  carried  out  by  the  state;  for  the 
private  corporation,  being  bent  on  profits,  naturally  takes  the  ground 


288  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

369.  Self -Preservation.— The  statement  that  "  self- 
preservation  is  the  first  law  of  nature"  is  simply  a 
declaration  of  this  observed  fact  in  nature,  that  no 
form  of  life  considers  any  theory  of  rights  when  strug- 
gling for  its  own  existence.    This  is  as  true  of  men  as 
of  beasts.    It  is  as  true  of  collections  of  men  as  of  in- 
dividuals.    The  earliest  gentes,  phratries,  the  tribes, 
the  nations  made  by  federations  of  the  tribes,  were  all 
of  them  the  necessary  result  of  this  universal  struggle 
for  existence. 

370.  The  Social  Struggle.— Society  does  and  must 
exist.3    What  may  society  do  in  that  branch  of  its  ac- 
tivities which  has  to  do  with  its  own  defense  and  with 


that  anything  is  good  enough  which  the  public  will  accept,  and  no 
price  too  high  that  the  public  will  pay;  while  the  state,  being  free  from 
this  necessity,  *  *  *  may  take  the  ideal  ground  that  nothing  is 
good  enough  which  is  short  of  the  very  best.  All  of  the  tremendous 
arguments  which  may  be  urged  for  association  as  a  general  principle 
of  conduct  may  be  urged  with  heightened  force  in  favor  of  that  more 
complete  and  perfect  form  of  association  represented  by  the  state.  And 
to  this  broader  and  more  helpful  conception  of  the  state  we  are  steadily 
advancing.  One  by  one  the  state  has  been  taking  over  functions  and 
duties  once  vehemently  denied  to  it,  but  now  amply  justified  as  helping 
to  free  men  from  the  tyranny  of  things.  Light-houses  have  been  built 
and  manned,  waterways  improved,  maps  and  charts  prepared.  Cities 
have  been  paved  and  lighted  and  drained;  water  -has  been  regarded  as 
a  public  necessity;  water  power  and  natural  gas  for  manufacturing 
purposes  have  been  made  available;  tram  lines  have  been  taken  over 
or  built;  municipal  tenements  have  been  erected;  free  libraries  and 
public  baths  and  gymnasiums  have  been  established.  *  *  Both 

telegraphs  and  railways  have  been  taken  over  by  the  state.  Boards 
of  health  have  been  established;  quarantine  has  been  inaugurated;  cur- 
rency has  been  provided.  Best  of  all,  in  any  country  marked  by  any 
degree  of  intelligence  and  prosperity,  an  elaborate  system  of  public 
education  has  come  to  be  regarded  as  a  public  necessity.  School  houses 
have  been  built  by  the  thousands,  colleges  and  universities  by  the 
hundred,  investigations  have  been  carried  on,  publications  issued,  expe- 
ditions fitted  out.  This  list,  long  as  it  is,  does  not  by  any  means 
exhaust  the  present  directions  of  state  activity.  And,  from  none  of  these 
multitudinous  functions  would  any  but  a  very  small  body  of  reaction- 
aries have  the  state  withdraw.  There  is  no  turning  back  in  this  work 
of  increasing  the  freedom  of  the  individual  by  diminishing  the  tyranny 
of  things." — Henderson :  Education  and  the  Larger  Life,  p.  373. 

3.  "The  external  ground  for  the  existence  of  the  state  is  the 
nature  of  man.  There  are  no  men  without  continuity  of  social  life  [Zu- 
sammemleben] .  There  is  no  continuity  of  social  life  without  order. 
There  is  no  order  without  law.  There  is  no  law  without  coercive  force. 


CHAP.  XXIII  PURPOSES  OF  THE  STATE  280 

making  provision  for  the  common  welfare?  Manifest- 
ly, this  is  not  a  question  of  what  society  may  be  able  to 
do,  but  what  it  may  most  wisely  do  in  order  to  best 
secure  these  ends.  Society  is  not  only  a  collectivity,  but 
is  a  collection  of  individuals,  each  individual  being  an 
organ  of  the  social  organism.  Society  cannot  protect 
itself,  nor  provide  for  its  welfare,  except  as  it  provides 
for  the  safety  and  comfort  of  the  individuals  who 
make  up  the  collectivity  of  which  society  is  composed. 
Government  may  not  exist,  then,  for  any  purpose  which 
is  not  for  the  safety  and  welfare  of  the  individuals 
who  make  up  society. 

371.  The  Abuse  of  Power.— To  use  the  public  au- 
thority to  impoverish  a  portion  of  society  in  order  to 
enrich  another  portion  of  society  would  be,  manifestly, 
an  abuse  of  power. 

To  use  the  public  authority  to  deprive  any  member 
of  society  of  the  opportunity  to  live  a  full,  human  life 
would  be  to  use  the  public  power  to  do  the  very  wrong 
in  order  to  prevent  which  the  government  exists,  and 
hence  would  be  an  abuse  of  power. 

To  use  the  public  authority  to  do  for  an  individual 
anything  for  his  advantage,  and  yet  a  thing  which  he 
can  do  better,  or,  at  least,  as  well,  for  himself,  is  an 
unnecessary  burden  on  all  for  the  benefit  of  a  single 
individual,  and  hence  would  be  an  abuse  of  power. 

To  use  the  public  authority  to  compel  any  member  of 
society  to  speak,  or  act,  or  dress,  or  live  in  any  par- 
ticular manner,  when  no  serious  social  harm  may  come 
from  leaving  him  to  his  own  choice  in  all  such  matters, 
is  for  the  collectivity  to  invade  the  domain  of  the  most 
sacred  personal  liberties  of  the  individual.  It  would 


There  is  no  coercive  force  without  organization.  And  this  organization 
is  the  state." — [System  der  Rechtsphilosophie,  p.  296]. — Lasson  quoted 
by  Lily:  First  Principles  in  Politics,  p.  28. 


290  QUESTIONS  OF  COKTROV£&S¥  PART  IV 

be  substituting  persecution  for  protection,  and  would 
be  a  most  serious  abuse  of  power. 

For  the  public  authority  to  require  the  individual  to 
maintain  any  fixed  standard  of  living  or  to  regularly 
engage  in  any  fixed  calling  or  occupation,  as  to  require 
one  to  be  a  blacksmith,  another  a  farmer,  and  another 
a  soldier  contrary  to  the  wishes  of  the  person  involved, 
would  not  be  consistent  with  the  true  function  of  gov- 
ernment; that  is,  to  secure  the  safety  and  welfare  of 
society,  the  sole  ground  on  which  government  has  a 
right  to  exist  and  hence,  would  be  an  abuse  of  power. 

372.  Class   Rule   and   Self-Government.— "Is   not 
that  government  best  which  governs  least?"    If  gov- 
ernment is  a  superior,  enacting  and  enforcing  laws  for 
the  control  of  inferiors,  then  that  government  is  best 
which  governs  not  at  all.    But  if  government  is  a  nec- 
essary co-operative  organization,  composed  of  those 
who  are  political  equals,  then  that  government  is  best 
which  best  protects  the 'individual  and  most  perfectly 
provides  for  all  matters  of  common  interest.    Certainly 
that  government  cannot  be  best  which  ignores  the  prin- 
cipal task  of  life,  namely,  making  a  living.4 

373.  Public  Powers  Controlled  to  Be  Abused.— Gov- 
ernment ownership  is  a  term  used  only  with  offense 
among  most  Socialists;  but  if  the  government  is  only 
that  function  of  society,  of  the  whole  of  society,  which 
provides  for  itself  in  all  collective  affairs  and  protects 

4.  The  claim  that  the  aggregate  of  governmental  expenditures  is 
largely  determined  by  the  industrial  development  finds  support,  also, 
in  the  general  theory  of  social  evolution.  It  is  a  fundamental  law  of 
social  development  that  human  wants  are  capable  of  indefinite  expan- 
sion; but  that  their  expansion  will  conform  to  the  order  of  their  relative 
importance.  The  conscious  ability  to  satisfy  a  want  which  previously 
lay  dormant  gives  to  it  a  vitality  that  raises  it  from  the  rank  of  a 
simple  desire  to  the  rank  of  a  vital  principle  capable  of  giving  direction 
to  social  activity.  As  expressed  by  Bentham,  'Desires  extend  themselves 
with  the  means  of  satisfaction;  the  horizon  is  enlarged  in  proportion  as 
one  advances,  and  each  new  want  equally  accompanied  by  its  pleasure 
and  its  pain  becomes  a  new  principle  of  action.'  Now,  it  is  evident  that, 


PURPOSES  OF  THE  STATE  '201 

all  its  members  from  interference  in  all  private  affairs, 
then  the  government  is  the  public;  is  society  at  work; 
is  the  collectivity,  and  there  would  be  no  difference 
between  government  ownership,  public  ownership  and 
collective  ownership,  in  such  a  case. 

But  any  government  which  is  more  or  less  than  this 
whole  body  of  society,  this  general  public,  this  social 
collectivity,  acting  in  its  own  behalf,  must  be  a  gov- 
ernment exercising  public  power  not  to  protect  all, 
nor  to  provide  for  the  general  welfare  of  all;  but  in- 
stead, to  use  the  authority  of  all  to  specially  serve  a 
part  and  to  protect  this  group  of  favorites  from  the  just 
wrath  of  the  rest  of  society.  From  government  owner- 
ship by  such  a  government  little  or  no  advantage  can 
come  to  the  workers.  For  government  ownership  by 
such  a  government  it  is  as  impossible  to  find  any  very 
effective  words  of  defense  as  it  is  to  find  grounds  for 
defending  the  existence  of  such  a  government. 

The  fact  that  every  government  on  earth  is  admin- 
istered for  purposes  which  are  here  condemned  does 
not  make  the  condemnation  any  less  deserved.  It 

for  the  orderly  development  of  society,  new  collective  wants  as  well 
as  new  individual  wants  must  emerge  as  development  proceeds,  from 
which  it  follows  that  industrial  growth  opens  up  to  society  ever- expand- 
ing possibilites,  which,  in  part,  will  be  reflected  in  a  corresponding 
expansion  of  those  functions  which  government  alone  can  perform."- 
Adams:  Finance,  p.  38. 

"It  is  hard  to  believe  in  the  wisdom  of  an  economic  regime  under 
which  scarcity  and  want  are  the  result  of  an  over-production  of  neces- 
sary commodities.  It  is  hard  to  believe  that  human  wealth  is  increased 
and  the  social  purpose  furthered  by  committing  the  natural  resources 
of  a  country,  the  gold  and  silver,  copper  and  iron,  coal  and  oil,  field  and 
forest,  into  the  private  keeping  of  a  few  individuals,  instead  of  adminis- 
tering this  bounty  for  the  good  of  all.  *  *  *  * 

"The  carrying  out  of  the  social  purpose  requires  that  a  man  shall 
have  adequate  food  and  shelter  and  clothing,  air  and  water,  light  and 
heat,  education  and  amusement,  beauty  and  social  opportunity.  And 
further,  it  requires  that  the  necessary  material  part  of  his  life  shall  be 
won  at  the  least  possible  expenditure  of  labor  and  time." — Henderson: 
Education  and  the  Larger  Life,  p.  78. 

"Employers  will  get  labor  cheap  if  they  can;  it  is  the  business  of 
the  state  to  prevent  them  getting  it  so  cheaply  that  they  imperil  the 
future  of  the  race  by  the  process." — Rogers:  Work  and  Wages,  p.  528. 


292  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

only  emphasizes  how  serious  is  the  demand  for  such 
a  control  of  governmental  powers  as  shall  make  these 
powers  the  servants  of  all,  not  the  masters  of  any.5 

374.  The  Government  and  Business  Enterprises.— 
Is  it  consistent  with  the  purposes  for  which  the  state 
exists  for  it  to  undertake  any  business  or  industrial 
enterprises?  If  the  state  is  a  superior,  guiding,  con- 
trolling and  robbing  the  masses  then  such  a  state 
would  bring  no  advantage  to  the  masses  whom  it  now 
robs  without  government  business  enterprises  by  go- 
ing into  business  on  its  own  account.  It  can  make  no 
difference  to  the  workers  whether  they  be  robbed  by 
a  private  shop,  protected  by  the  state,  or  by  a  shop 
owned  as  well  as  protected  by  the  state. 

If  the  state  is  to  conduct  lines  of  business,  is  to  hire 
its  workers  in  the  market,  is  to  employ  them  at  the 
rates  for  which  the  labor  market  can  furnish  them,  and 
is  to  sell  the  products  for  a  profit,  like  other  producers, 
while  the  workers  have  no  voice  in  the  management 
of  the  industries  in  which  they  are  employed,  nor 
direct  ownership  in  the  products  of  their  own  labors, 
then  the  benefits  which  could  come  to  the  workers  from 
such  government  enterprises  are  of  so  little  importance 
as  to  be  hardly  worth  the  trouble  of  securing  them. 
Government  railways,  gas  works,  water  works,  street 
railways,  electric  power  plants,  and  the  postoffice  are 

5.  "Since  the  time  of  Locke  there  has  been  practically  no  develop- 
ment of  political  thought.  *  *  *  There  is  really  nothing  on  which  the 
English  race  can  base  the  claim  they  so  often  make,  that  they  have 
a  peculiar  aptitude  for  the  development  of  political  institutions.  They 
have  been  too  conservative  to  develop  institutional  life  beyond  the  needs 
of  a  primitive  society.  Peace  and  security  come  not  from  Anglo-Ameri- 
can institutions,  but  from  the  instincts  inculcated  during  the  supremacy 
of  the  Church,  the  favorable  economic  conditions,  and  that  spirit  of 
compromise  which  has  been  forced  on  the  race  by  the  presence  of 
opposing  types  of  men.  Given  these  instincts  and  conditions,  almost 
any  institutions  would  be  successful.  Where  these  conditions  are  lack- 
ing, the  failure  of  our  institutions  is  lamentably  apparent,  and  the 
inability  to  remedy  them  even  more  obvious." — Patten:  Development 
of  English  Thought,  p.  188. 


CHAP.  XXIII  PURPOSES  OF  THE    STATE  293 

illustrations  of  this  sort  of  government  ownership. 
Such  government  ownership  solves  none  of  the  politi- 
cal or  economic  problems  connected  with  these  great 
industries.6 

Whether  such  a  state  should  establish  industries  to 
compete  with  the  private  enterprises,  which  such  a 
government  is  supposed  to  specially  protect,  is  a  ques- 
tion for  the  capitalists  who  are  running  the  govern- 
ment to  settle  with  the  capitalists  who  are  running  the 
private  enterprises. 

375.  Industrial  and  Political  Self -Government.— It 
will  be  impossible  to  enthrone  the  workers  in  shops  of 
their  own  without  at  the  same  time  making  the  work- 
ers the  masters  of  the  state.    When  the  workers  are 
made  the  masters  of  the  shops  and  of  the  government 
which  is  to  protect  the  shops,  then  the  state  will  cease 
to  be  the  representative  of  any  portion  of  the  people, 
existing  to  protect  this  portion  while  this  portion  pro- 
ceeds to  exploit  the  rest  of  society.    With  the  workers 
once  made  the  masters  of  the  state,  then  the  state,  that 
is,  the  function  of  society  by  which  it  protects  itself 
and  provides  for  its  own  common  welfare,  will  at  once 
be  recovered  from  the  control  of  the  few  who  use  its 
power  to  rob  the  many,  and  will  become  simply  the  or- 
ganic expression  of  all  the  people  in  the  direct  control 
of  all  matters  of  common  concern. 

376.  Socialism  and  the  Government.— If  the  state 
is  understood  to  be  one  part    of    society,  using   the 
strength  of  all  to  rob  another  part  of  society,  then  So- 
cialism will  abolish  the  state.    If  the  state  is  under- 
stood to  be  the  whole  people,  using  their  own  collective 
strength  and  collective  wisdom  in  order  to  protect  and 
to  provide  for  themselves,  then  all  that  Socialism  will 
abolish  will  be  the  abuses  of  the  state.7 

6.  "The  statesmanship  of  our  rulers  consists   simply,  not  alone 
internally,  but  also  externally,  in  placing  every  question  upon  the  shelf 
and  thereby  increasing  the  number  of  unsolved  problems." — Kautsky: 
Social  Revolution,  p.  95. 

7.  "Civil  government,  so  far  as  it  is  instituted  for  the  security  of 


294  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

377.  Socialism  Will  Deliver  the  State  from  the 
Hands  of  Its  Foes.— Today  the  workshop  and  the  mar- 
ket-place are  privately  owned  and  privately  useS  by 
a  part  of  the  people  to  exploit  all  the  rest.  Socialism 
will  not  destroy  the  shop  or  the  market.  It  will  deliver 
both  into  the  ownership  and  control  of  all  the  people 
for  the  mutual  and  equal  advantage  of  all.  In  the  same 
way  the  state,  that  is,  the  government,  is  privately  con- 
trolled and  privately  used  by  the  private  owners  of  the 
shops  and  markets,  as  a  part  of  their  business  equip- 
ment in  their  work  of  exploiting  all  the  rest  of  the 
people.8  Socialism  will  not  destroy  the  state,  the  gov- 
ernment. It  will  simply  deliver  it  from  the  private 
control  of  the  private  owners  of  the  shops  and  markets ; 

property,  is  in  reality  instituted  for  the  defense  of  the  rich  against 
the  poor,  or  of  those  who  have  some  property  against  those  who  have 
none  at  all."— Adam  Smith:  Wealth  of  Nations,  Book  V.,  Chapter  I. 

"Respect  for  the  goods  and  property  of  others  is  the  basis  of  human 
society.  It  is  demanded  by  social  duty,  it  is  inspired  by  good  manners, 
it  is  inculcated  by  divine  rule,  and  should  be  rigidly  enforced  by  civil 
law  and  authority.  *  *  *  It  is  the  primary  object  of  every  well- 
founded  government  to  encourage  the  acquisition  of  individual  fortunes, 
as  it  is  one  of  its  most  sacred  duties  to  guard  them  for  their  possessors 
when  they  have  been  lawfully  and  honestly  earned." — Dos  Passes,  Com- 
mercial Trusts,  pp.  133-34. 

"The  great  and  chief  end,  therefore,  of  men's  uniting  into  common- 
wealths, and  putting  themselves  under  government,  is  the  preservation 
of  their  property." — Locke:  Civil  Government,  p.  76,  CasselFs  National 
Library  edition. 

"The  executive  of  the  modern  state  is  but  a  committee  for  managing 
the  common  affairs  of  the  whole  bourgeoisie." — Marx  and  Engels:  Com- 
munist Manifesto,  p.  15. 

8.  "Such  is  the  array  of  distinctively  economic  forces  making  for 
imperialism,  a  large,  loose  group  of  trades  and  professions  seeking 
profitable  business  and  lucrative  employment  from  the  expansion  of 
military  and  civil  services,  from  the  expenditure  on  military  operations, 
the  opening  up  of  new  tracts  of  territory  and  trade  with  the  same,  and 
the  provision  of  new  capital  which  these  operations  require,  all  these 
finding  their  central  guiding  and  directing  force  in  the  power  of  the 
general  financier. 

"The  play  of  these  forces  does  not  openly  appear.  They  are  essen- 
tially parasites  upon  patriotism,  and  they  adapt  themselves  to  its 
protecting  colors.  In  the  mouths  of  their  representatives  are  noble 
phrases,  expressive  of  their  desire  to  extend  the  area  of  civilization, 
to  establish  good  government,  promote  Christianity,  extirpate  slavery 
and  elevate  the  lower  races.  Some  of  the  business  men  who  hold  such 
language  may  entertain  a  genuine,  though  usually  a  vague,  desire  to 
accomplish  these  ends;  but  they  are  primarily  engaged  in  business,  and 


CHAP.  XXIII  PURPOSES  OF  THE    STATE  295 

and  the  same  political  action  which  will  make  the 
workers  the  masters  in  the  administration  of  the  shops 
will  make  them  the  masters  in  the  administration  of 
the  government  itself.  In  fact,  it  is  only  by  capturing 
and  using  the  power  of  the  state  that  the  workers  can 
be  made  the  masters  in  the  shops  and  the  market- 
place. 

378.  Do  Socialists  Propose  the  Abuse  of  Public 
Power?— May  the  state  then  properly  undertake  to  use 
the  political  power  for  such  a  purpose,  that  is,  for  the 
purpose    of   extending    collectivism,    democracy    and 
equality  to  the  workshop  and  market-place? 

The  power  of  the  state  has  been  used,  ever  since  the 
close  of  barbarism,  to  extend  and  enforce  monopoly, 
tyranny  and  inequality  in  the  workshop  and  the  mar- 
ket-place. It  is  absurd  to  contend  that  the  public  au- 
thority may  be  used  to  employ  the  power  of  all,  at  the 
expense  of  all,  for  the  benefit  of  a  part,  but  that 
the  authority  of  all  may  not  be  used  by  all  for  the 
benefit  of  all. 

It  is  of  little  advantage  in  the  struggle  for  existence 
to  have  a  voice  in  the  affairs  of  the  state  if  it  is  to  be 
agreed  that  the  state  is  to  have  no  relation  to  the  strug- 
gle for  existence.  The  Socialist  asks  not  only  for  a 
voice  for  all,  but  he  insists  that  this  voice  of  all  shall 
be  heard  in  the  management  of  all  those  interests  which 
the  members  of  society  hold  in  common. 

379.  Individuality  Established  and  Defended  Un- 
der Socialism.— Where  will  the  individual  appear  when 
this,  revolution  shall  have  changed  the  present  political 

they  are  not  unaware  of  the  utility  of  the  more  unselfish  forces  in 
furthering  their  ends.  Their  true  attitude  of  mind  is  expressed  by  Mr. 
Rhodes  in  his  famous  description  of  'Her  Majesty's  flag'  as  'the  greatest 
commercial  asset  in  the  world.'  " — Hobson :  Imperialism,  p.  68. 

"The  state,  as  now  constituted,  may  be  said,  in  essence,  to  exist 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  four  grand  monopolies  of  land  and  locomo- 
tion, money  and  machinery,  and  for  little  else." — Davidson:  The  An- 
nals of  Toil,  p.  477, 


296  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

state  to  the  coming  social  state,  when  public  author- 
ity shall  have  ceased  to  be  the  special  privilege  of  the 
few  and  has  become  the  acknowledged  function  of  all, 
and  all  collective  interests  have  become  subject  to  col- 
lective control?9 

The  individual  will  have  been  delivered  from  the 
monopoly  of  capitalism,  which  denies  him  the  right  to 
earn  a  living  except  by  the  consent  of  some  private 
owner  of  the  means  of  production.10 

The  individual  will  have  been  delivered  from  the 
tyranny  of  capitalism,  which  denies  him  the  right  to 
produce,  except  as  the  servant  of  another. 

The  individual  will  have  been  delivered  from  the 
inequality  of  capitalism,  which  denies  the  right  to 
most  men  to  live  at  all,  except  as  the  personal  inferiors, 
menials  and  dependents  of  others  no  better  than  them- 
selves. 

9.  "We  must  remember  that  the  well-being  of  mankind     *     *     * 
consists    of    three    main    elements:       (1)    the    subjugation    of    nature; 
(2)  the  perfection  of  social  machinery,  and,  (3)  personal  development — 
and  that  true  progress  must  include  advancement  in  all." — Mackenzie: 
Introduction  to  Social  Philosophy,  p.  297. 

"It  is  seen  to  consist,  not  in  letting  man  alone,  for  that  freedom 
turns  out  to  be  an  illusion,  but  in  surrounding  him  with  facilities  and 
opportunities  for  the  full  play  of  his  individuality,  the  effective  working 
out  of  his  life  purposes." — Henderson:  Education  and  the  Larger  Life, 
p.  376. 

10.  "The  case  for  society  stands  thus:    The  individual  must  be 
assured  the  best  means,  the  best  and  fullest  opportunites  for  complete 
self -development;  in  no  other  way  can  society  itself  gain  variety  and 
strength.    But  one  of  the  most  indispensable  conditions  of  opportunity 
for  self -development,  government  alone,  society's  controlling  organ,  can 
supply.     All  combination  which  necessarily  creates   monopoly,   which 
necessarily  puts  and  keeps  indispensable  means  of  industrial  and  social 
development  in  the  hands  of  a  few,  and  those  few  not  the  few  selected 
by  society  itself,  but  the  few  selected  by  arbitrary  fortune,  must  be 
under  either  the  direct  or  indirect  control  of  society.    To  society  alone 
can  the  power  of  dominating  combination  belong." — President  Wilson: 
The  State,  p.  661. 

"The  whole  idea  of  the  social  state  is  to  further  the  opportunity 
and  freedom  of  the  individual  life,  and  so  make  possible  the  increase  of 
human  wealth.  The  social  state  is  the  instrument  of  individualism,  not 
its  opponent.  The  social  state  limits  individualism  in  only  one  way — 
it  denies  the  right  of  the  individual  to  exploit  his  neighbor,  even  as 
justice  denies  the  vendetta  in  taking  over  punishment  from  the  hands 
of  private  vengeance  and  ranking  it  a  state  function," — Henderson:  Edu- 
cation and  the  Larger  Life,  p.  379. 


CHAP.  XXIII  PURPOSES  OF  THE    STATE  297 

The  individual  will  be  given  his  economic  right  td 
earn  a  living  as  a  free,  self-employing  worker,  to  pos- 
sess for  himself  his  products,11  with  equal  voice  in  the 
control  of  the  work  he  helps  to  do  and  with  equal  op- 
portunity to  be  a  worker  if  he  so  chooses,  with  all  the 
others. 

380.  The  End  of  the  Oppressor.— Under  such  con- 
ditions the  collective  power  of  all,  the  public,  the  state, 
the  government— call  it  what  you  will— this  collective 
power  of  all  cannot  then  be  used  to  impoverish  some 
in  order  to  enrich  others,  to  oppress  some  in  order  to 
gratify  others,  to  humiliate  some  in  order  to  exalt 
others.12 

Democratic  collectivism  with  all  mankind  in  the  col- 
lectivity will  make  an  end  of  the  abuse  of  public  power. 
Socialism  will  substitute  the  collective  use  of  public 
power  for  the  equal  good  of  all,  for  its  private  abuse 
for  the  private  profit  of  a  few. 

381.  Summary.— 1.    Government    is    simply    the 
whole  body  of  society  protecting  and  providing  for 
itself. 

2.  The  state  exists  because  self-preservation  is  the 
first  law  of  nature. 

3.  The  power  of  the  state  has  been  captured  by  a 
ruling  class— the  capitalist  class— and  is  everywhere 
used  as  a  part  of  the  equipment  by  which  the  few  are 
able  to  oppress  the  many. 

4.  Socialism  will  deliver  both  the  industries,  which 
are  collectively  used  and  the  power  of  the  state,  by 
which  all  collective  interests  should  be  protected  from 

11.  "Commencing  at  zero  in  savagery,  the  passion  for  the  posses- 
sion of  property,  as  the  representative  of  accumulated  subsistence,  has 
now  become  dominant  over  the  human  mind  in  civilized  races." — Mor- 
gan:    Ancient  Society,  Preface,  VII. 

12.  "Rampant  as  the   spirit  of   commercialism  now  is,  I  cannot 
but  regard  its  manifestation  as  the  last  up-flaming  of  the  fire  before  it 
e^oes   out." — Prof.   Henderson    (Chicago   University):        Education   and 
the  Larger  Life,  p.  380, 


298  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PABT  IV 

the  control  of  the  few  and  into  the  possession  of  the 
many. 

5.  Such  a  social  state  would  necessarily  guard  all 
private  interests  from  public  interference,  and  all  pub- 
lic interests  from  private  oppression.  It  would  be 
the  most  perfect  guaranty  of  free  men  and  of  free 
society. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  Is  the  state  necessary? 

2.  By  what  right  may  it  exist? 

3.  What   relation   has   the   state   to   the   universal   struggle   for 
existence  ? 

4.  Give  instances  of  the  abuse  of  public  power. 

5.  Is  that  government  best  which  governs  least? 

6.  In   what   case    may   government   ownership   be   different    from 
public  Or  collective  ownership?     In  what  case  would  these  terms  all 
mean  the  same? 

7.  Can  the  workers  be  greatly  benefited  by  government  ownership 
when  the  government  itself  is  not  answerable  to  the  workers? 

8.  Why  is  industrial  democracy  necessary  in  order  to  have  real 
political  democracy? 

9.  How  can  advantage  be  taken  of  political  democracy  in  order 
to  secure  industrial  democracy? 

10.  May  the  people  properly  undertake  to  use  the  power  of  the 
state  to  extend  democracy  to  the  workshop  and  the  market? 

11.  What  becomes  of  the  individual  under  Socialism? 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

ASSUMPTIONS     IN     ECONOMICS 

382.  The  Economists. —Political  economy  regards 
mankind  only  as  related  to  the  production,  distribution 
or  consumption  of  wealth.  Social  economy  regards 
wealth  only  as  related  to  the  comfort,  liberty  and 
progress  of  mankind.  So  far  as  the  meaning  of  words 
goes,  political  economy  is  the  science  of  wealth  from 
the  standpoint  of  capitalism,  and  social  economy  is  the 
science  of  wealth  from  the  standpoint  of  Socialism. 
Nevertheless,  many  who  are  called  politcal  economists 
constantly  consider  the  public  welfare.  Some  who  call 
themselves  social  economists  are  among  the  most  active 
defenders  of  capitalism.  We  shall  avoid  confusion  if 
we  ignore  any  distinctions  between  economists  as  to 
whether  they  call  themselves  political  or  social  econ- 
omists. 

Even  if  these  terms  be  used  interchangeably,  still 
there  are  many  kinds  of  economists.  The  English,  also 
called  the  Manchester  and  the  classical  school,  is  the 
oldest  and  has  been  the  most  influential.  Adam  Smith, 
Eicardo,  Malthus  and  John  Stuart  Mill  were  of  this 
school.  The  German,  modern  or  historical  school,  is 

299 


300  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

the  other  of  the  two  most  important  of  the  groups  of 
the  political  economists. 

383.  The  English  School.— The  English  school  ig- 
nores the  real  man  who  actually  exists,  and  creates  an 
imaginary  man,  who,  it  admits,  never  existed.    It  calls 
this  creation  of  its  imagination  "the  economic  man," 
and  proceeds  to  ask  what  this  imaginary  man  would  do 
under  all  possible  circumstances.    They  answer  their 
own  questions  in  a  manner  consistent  with  the  char- 
acter of  their  imaginary  man,  and  from  these  answers 
they  construct  their  "economic  axioms,"  on  which 
they  build  their  science  of  economics.1 

384.  The  Historical  School.— The  historical  school 
does  not  try  to  imagine  an  "economic  man"  and  base 
a  science  on  the  answers  which  their  own  straw  man 
may  make  to  their  own  questions.    The  English  school 
is  based  on  assumptions.   The  historical  school  is  based 
on  observations.2    The  English  school  derives  its  as- 
sumptions from  its  "economic  man,"  who  is  simply  an 
ordinary  man  stripped  of  all  his  qualities  save  those 
which  are  most  in  demand  under  capitalism.    Its  as- 
sumptions are  the  assumptions  of  capitalism.     The 

1.  "Of  every  human  passion  or  motive,  political  economy  makes 
entire  abstraction.     Love  of  country,  love  of  honor,  love  of  friends, 
love  of  learning,  love  of  art,  pity,  honor,  shame,  religion,  charity,  will 
never,  so  far  as  political  economy  cares  to  take  account-,  withstand  in 
the  slightest  degree  or  for  the  shortest  time  the  efforts  of  the  economic 
man  to  amass  wealth." — Walker:     Political  Economy,  p.  16. 

"Ricardo's  economic  assumptions  were  of  his  own  making." — Toyn- 
bce:  The  Industrial  Revolution,  p.  11. 

"Attempts  have  indeed  been  made  to  construct  an  abstract  science 
with  regard  to  the  actions  of  an  'economic  man/  who  is  under  no  ethical 
influences  and  who  pursues  pecuniary  gain  warily  and  energetically,  but 
mechanically  and  selfishly.  But  they  have  not  been  successful,  nor  even 
thoroughly  carried  out,  for  they  have  never  really  treated  the  economic 
man  as  perfectly  selfish.  No  one  could  be  relied  on  better  than  the 
economic  man  to  endure  toil  and  sacrifice  with  the  unselfish  desire 
to  make  provision  for  his  family;  and  his  normal  motives  have  always 
been  tacitly  assumed  to  include  the  family  affections.  But  if  these 
motives  are  included,  why  net  also  all  other  altruistic  motives,  the  ac- 
tion of  which  is  so  far  uniform  in  any  class  at  any  time  and  place  that 
it  can  be  reduced  to  general  rule?"— Marshall:  Principles  of  Eco- 
nomics, Vol.  I.,  Preface,  p.  8. 

2.  Ely:    Political  Economy,  p.  16, 


CHAP.  XXIV  ASSUMPTIONS  IN  ECONOMICS  301 

historical  school  draws  its  conclusions  from  observa- 
tions. It  observes  how  real  men  act  and  the  results 
of  their  actions  in  real  industry  and  commerce,  but  in 
industry  and  commerce  as  carried  on  under  capitalism. 

385.  "The  Dismal  Science. "— Now,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  if  the  real  man  is  not  so  bad  a  character  as  the 
economic  man  would  be  if  he  could  really  become  a 
living  man,  it  is  found,  nevertheless,  that  under  the 
stress  of  capitalism  he  acts  badly  enough,  so  that  the 
English  school,  based  on  the  assumptions  which  under- 
lie capitalism,  and  the  historical  school,  based  on  the 
observation  of  man's  conduct  under  capitalism,  come 
practically  to  the  same  general  results.  Carlyle's  char- 
acterization of  economics  as  a  "dismal  science"  will 
apply  with  equal  force  to  both  schools.3 

The  English  school  argues  from  the  character  of  a 

3.  "The  trade  unionists  speak  with  considerable  bitterness  of 
political  economists,  and  with  some  reason.  The  ordinary  teaching  of 
political  economy  admits  as  its  first  definition  that  wealth  is  the  pro- 
duct of  labor;  but  it  seldom  tries  to  point  out  how  the  producer  should 
obtain  the  benefit  of  his  own  product.  It  treats  of  the  manner  in  which 
wealth  is  produced,  and  postpones  or  neglects  the  consideration  of  the 
process  by  which  it  is  distributed,  being,  it  seems,  attracted  mainly  by 
the  agencies  under  which  it  is  accumulated.  Writers  have  been  habitu- 
ated to  estimate  wealth  as  a  general  does  military  force,  and  are  more 
concerned  with  its  concentration  than  they  are  with  the  details  of  its 
partition.  It  is  not  surprising  that  this  should  be  the  case.  Most 
writers  on  political  economy  have  been  persons  in  opulent,  or  at  least 
in  easy,  circumstances.  They  have  witnessed  with  profound  or  inte- 
rested satisfaction  the  growth  of  wealth  in  the  classes  to  which  they 
belong,  or  with  which  they  have  been  familiar  or  intimate.  In  their 
eyes  the  poverty  of  industry  has  been  a  puzzle,  a  nuisance,  a  problem, 
a  social  crime.  They  have  every  sympathy  with  the  man  who  wins 
and  saves,  no  matter  how;  but  they  are  not  very  considerate  for  a 
man  who  works.  *  In  point  of  fact,  ordinary  political  economy 

does  not  go  further  than  to  describe  the  process  and  some  of  the  con- 
sequences of  a  state  of  war.  The  war  is  industrial,  in  which  each 
man  is  striving  to  get  the  better  of  his  neighbor,  to  beat  him  in  the 
struggle  for  existence.  Malthus  and  the  elder  Mill  laid  the  Darwinian 
hypothesis  before  the  modern  prophet  of  the  physical  life  of  the  future 
and  the  past  began  to  speculate  on  natural  forces." — Rogers:  Work 
and  Wages,  pp.  523  '  *  25. 

"Take  economics  as  an  example.  During  the  eighteenth  century 
Adam  Smith,  having  carefully  observed  the  conditions  which  prevailed 
in  Europe,  and  especially  in  Great  Britain,  wrote  a  book  admirably 
suited  to  his  environment,  and  the  book  met  with  success.  Then  men 


302  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTliOVfekSY  £A&T  IV 

man  who  would  do  nothing  but  struggle  for  more 
wealth,  and  the  historical  school  argues  from  the  con- 
duct of  a  man  so  placed  that  he  could  do  nothing  but 
struggle  for  existence.  The  one  has  an  abnormal  man 
and  the  other  abnormal  conditions,  and  both  arrive  at 
abnormal  results.4 

386.  The  Field  of  Study— But,  it  is  said,  human 
character  is  of  a  low  order,  and  all  the  world  is  under 
the  reign  of  capitalism.  If  it  be  granted  that  both  the 
imaginary  economic  man  and  the  conditions  under 
which  real  men  act  are  abnormal,  whence  then  the  ma- 
terials for  either  social  or  political  science,  if  these 
cannot  be  trusted? 

In  the  first  place,  it  may  be  said  that  we  may  study 
real  men  and  not  imaginary  ones,  and  if  we  do,  the 
discovery  of  the  endless  changes  of  social  and  political 
forms  wrought  out  with  the  world's  advance  will  at 
once  lead  us  beyond  this  modern,  transitory,  constantly 
shifting  life  under  capitalism  to  the  previous,  and, 
from  the  standpoint  of  a  student  looking  for  social 
causes,  to  a  more  important  period  of  man's  existence. 
If  we  do  this  there  will  be  revealed  to  us  the  steps  by 
which  this  capitalism  came  into  existence,  as  well  as 
the  elements  within  itself  which  will  in  the  end  make 
its  further  existence  impossible.  We  shall  learn  that 

undertook  to  erect  the  principles  of  that  book  into  a  universal  law, 
irrespective  of  environment.  Then  others  theorized  on  these  commen- 
tators and  their  successors  upon  them  until  the  most  practical  of 
business  problems  has  been  lost  in  a  metaphysical  fog. 

"Now  men  are  apt  to  lecture  upon  political  economy  as  if  it  were 
a  dogma,  much  as  the  nominalists  and  realists  lectured  in  mediaeval 
schools.  But  a  priori  theories  can  avail  little  in  matters  which  are 
determined  by  experiment."  Adams:  The  New  Empire,  Introduction, 
pp.  xxx.,  xxxi. 

4.  "A  few  years  ago  the  proposition  was  made  to  remove 
economics  from  its  place  in  the  course  of  the  British  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science  on  the  ground  that  economic  science  had  never 
shown  itself  worthy  of  the  name.  *  *  *  If  we  take  from  political 
economy  first  all  the  truisms  and  then  all  the  doubtful  points  our 
remainder  will  be  a  quantity  closely  approximating  zero." — Lunt:  Eco- 
nomic Science,  pp.  3  *  *  5. 


CHAP.  XXIV  ASSUMPTIONS  IN  ECONOMICS  303 

it  is  true  that  the  materials  for  a  satisfactory  social 
philosophy  of  any  sort  cannot  be  gathered  until  men 
shall  first  have  healthful  lives  in  the  midst  of  healthful 
surroundings;  that  our  human  nature  will  never  be 
able  to  reveal  unto  itself  the  real  nature  of  its  own  life 
until  the  struggle  for  existence  shall  cease  to  be  de- 
structive of  individual  and  social  health. 

387.  May  Learn  the  Next  Step.— But  while  no  com- 
plete philosophy  of  the  whole  of  life  is  possible  until 
the  whole  of  life  may  be  revealed  to  us,  enough  is 
known,  and  not  seriously  disputed  by  reputable  schol- 
arship, of  our  past  and  of  the  evolutionary  advance  of 
the  race  to  enable  the  social  economist  to  name  the  next 
step  to  be  taken,  and  to  enter  into  the  struggle,  by  edu- 
cational and  political  action,  to  effectively  assist  so- 
ciety in  taking  that  next  step.5    What  the  second  step 
will  be  no  one  can  tell,  except   by  further  observation, 
after  the  next  step  has  been  taken. 

388.  These  limitations  which  the  nature  of  the  case 
has  thrown  around   the    student    of    social    economy 
should  be  borne  in  mind  while  we  inquire  into  some  of 
the  disputes  between  capitalists  and  Socialists  as  re- 
lated to  some  of  the  more  fundamental  assumptions  of 
economic  science. 

389.  Is   Capitalism  Natural?—!.    The   capitalists 
assume  that  the  wage  system  is  the  natural  method  of 
production. 

If  they  meant  by  this  that  it  was  the  natural  result 
of  the  development  of  the  race  at  a  certain  stage  of  its 
growth,  in  the  same  way  that  the  ancient  tribal  com- 
munism, slavery  and  serfdom  may  all  of  them  be  said 

5.  "But  the  Socialists  were  men  who  had  felt  intensely  and  knew 
something  about  the  hidden  springs  of  human  action  of  which  the 
economists  took  no  account.  *  *  *  The  influence  which  they  are 
now  exercising  on  the  younger  economists  in  England  and  Germany 
is  important,  and  I  think  for  the  greater  part  wholesome,  even  though 
the  association  with  fervid  philanthropy  does  perhaps  cause  some 
tendency  to  rapid  and  unscientific  thinking." — Marshall:  Present  Posi- 
tion of  Economics,  p.  18. 


304  QUESTIONS    OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

to  have  been  natural,  there  would  be  no  dispute.  But 
that  is  not  their  contention.  They  mean  rather  that  it 
is  the  method  of  production  originally  practiced  among 
men;  that  it  has  come  into  existence  in  the  natural 
order  of  events  and  without  violence,  and  that  it  is  so 
inherent  in  the  necessary  relations  of  life  that  no  ra- 
tional order  of  society  is  possible  without  capitalism. 
Historically  this  is  not  true.  In  theory  there  is  no  dis- 
pute that  that  system  of  production  is  most  natural, 
at  any  given  time,  which  best  adjusts  itself  to  the  eco- 
nomic forces  and  conditions  of  that  time.  Whether 
capitalism  or  Socialism  best  fits  the  new  economic  con- 
ditions so  rapidly  developing  in  all  of  the  earth,  is  the 
question  at  issue.  To  assume  that  either  is  natural 
and  the  other  is  not,  is  to  assume  the  very  point  in 
controversy.  With  this  understanding  of  the  word 
natural,  even  if  the  assumption  were  true  at  any  par- 
ticular stage  in  the  world's  growth,  it  would  prove 
nothing.  For  as  conditions  change,  the  natural  result 
would  be  the  change  of  systems  of  organization  to  fit 
the  changed  conditions,  so  that  what  was  natural  at 
one  time  might  be  entirely  unnatural  at  another  time. 

390.  Capitalism  of  Eecent  Origin.— 2.  The  capi- 
talists assume  that  the  wage  system  always  has  been 
and  always  will  be  the  method  of  production. 

It  is  not  meant  that  they  deny  the  historic  facts  re- 
garding the  existence  of  serfdom,  slavery  and  the  com- 
mon ownership  and  co-operative  industry  of  the  primi- 
tive peoples.  They  simply  ignore  them  and  write  as 
if  the  whole  of  human  history  had  no  lessons  for  them 
until  capitalism  had  come.  Whenever  they  write  about 
the  past  or  predict  the  future,  it  is  always,  in  effect, 
as  if  with  the  assumption  that  the  wage  system  always 
was  and  always  will  be  in  existence.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  as  has  been  seen  in  our  study  of  the  evolution 
of  capitalism,  it  is  of  very  recent  origin. 


CI-T.  XXIV  ASSUMPTIONS  IN  ECONOMICS  305 

391.  The  Origin  of  Capital.— 3.    The  capitalists  as- 
sume that  the  beginning  of  capitalism,  i.  e.,  of  the 
private  ownership  of  land  and  machinery  and  the  re- 
sulting dependence  of  the  many  on  the  consent  of  the 
few  for  an  opportunity  to  live  at  all,  was  made  as  the 
result  of  saving,  thrift  and  enterprise. 

There  is  no  place  where  the  economists  do  greater 
violence  to  the  truth  than  in  this  assumption.  When 
confronted  with  the  facts  of  history  they  admit  that 
the  facts  are  against  them,  but  they  obstinately  con- 
tinue to  teach  as  scientifically  true  that  which  is 
known  and  admitted  to  be  historically  false.  Take 
for  example  the  following  from  Francis  A.  Walker, 
whose  "Political  Economy"  is  the  text-book  in  a  larg- 
er number  of  schools  and  colleges  in  America  than  any 
other  publication.  He  says:6 

392.  V/alker's  Account.— "  The  origin  of  capital  is 
so  familiar  that  it  need  not  be  dwelt  upon  at  length 
here.    A  very  simple  illustration  may  suffice.     Let  us 
take  the  case  of  a  tribe  dwelling  along  the  shore  and 
subsisting  upon  the  fish  caught  from  the  rocks  which 
jut  into  the  sea.    When  the  fish  are  plentiful  the  people 
live  freely,  even  gluttonously.    When  their  luck  is  bad 
they  submit  to  privations    which    involve    suffering, 
reaching  sometimes  to  the  pitch  of  famine.    Now  let  us 
suppose  that  one    of   these    fishermen,    moved   by  a 
strong  desire  to  better  his  condition,  undertakes  to  lay 
by  a  store  of  fish.    He  denies  himself  and  accumulates 
in  his  hut  a  considerable  quantity  of  dried  food.    This 
is  wealth.    Whether  it  is  to  become  capital  or  not  de- 
pends upon  the  use  which  is  to  be  made  of  it.    If  des- 
tined to  be  merely  a  reserve  against  hard  times,  it  re- 
mains wealth;  but  does  not  become  capital. 

"But  our  fishermen,  in  laying  by  his  store  of  fish. 

6.    Walker:    Political  Economy,  pp.  62-64. 


306  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

has  higher  designs  than  to  equalize  the  food  consump- 
tion of  the.  year.  As  the  dull  season  approaches,  he 
takes  all  the  food  he  can  carry  and  goes  to  the  hills, 
where  he  finds  trees  whose  bark  can  be  easily  detached 
by  sharp  stones.  Again  and  again  he  returns  to  his 
work  in  the  hills,  while  his  neighbors  are  painfully 
striving  to  keep  themselves  alive.  At  the  end  of  the 
dull  season  he  brings  down  to  the  water  a  canoe,  so 
light  that  it  can  be  borne  upon  his  shoulders,  so  buoy- 
ant that  he  can  paddle  it  out  to  the  '  banks, '  which  lie 
two  or  three  miles  from  the  shore,  where  in  one  day  he 
can  get  as  many  fish  as  he  could  catch  off  the  rocks 
in  a  week. 

"The  canoe  is  capital;  the  fisherman  is  a  capitalist. 
He  can  now  take  his  choice  of  three  things.  He  may 
go  out  in  his  canoe  and  bring  home  supplies  of  fish, 
which  will  allow  him  to  marry  and  rear  a  family  in 
comfort,  and  with  his  surplus  hire  some  of  his  neigh- 
bors to  build  him  a  hut,  their  women  to  weave  him 
blankets,  and  their  children  to  bring  water  from  the 
spring  and  wait  upon  his  family;  or,  secondly,  he  may 
let  out  his  canoe  to*some  one,  who  will  be  glad  to  get 
the  use  of  it  on  payment  of  all  the  fish  one  family  could 
fairly  consume,  and  himself  stay  at  home  in  complete 
idleness,  basking  in  the  sun  or  on  stormy  days  seeking 
refuge  in  his  comfortable  hut ;  or,  which  is  more  likely, 
he  may,  thirdly,  let  out  the  canoe  and  himself  turn  to 
advantage  the  knowledge  and  experience  acquired  by 
making  canoes.  Again  and  again  he  will  appear  upon 
the  shore,  bringing  a  new  canoe,  for  the  use  of  which  a 
score  of  his  neighbors  will  clamorously  compete." 

393.  Theories  Facing  Facts.— To  all  this  it  must  be 
said  that  this  illustration  shows  the  origin  of  capital, 
except  in  the  following  particulars:  (1)  There  never 
was  such  a  savage.  The  first  canoe  was  the  result  of 
centuries  of  paddling  about  in  the  water.  No  one  man 


CHAP.  XXIV  ASSUMPTIONS  IN  ECONOMICS  307 

made  it  nor  possessed  it  when  it  was  made.  (2)  If 
there  had  been  such  a  savage,  he  would  not  have  fished 
for  himself  only,  but  for  the  tribe  as  well  as  for  himself, 
and  he  would  have  been  as  ignorant  of  the  " banks" 
three  miles  from  the  shore  as  he  was  of  the  building  of 
canoes.  The  " banks"  were  found  and  used  in  com- 
mon, and  to  this  day  the  "fishing  banks"  are  common 
property  and  are  used  co-operatively.  (3)  Bees,  squir- 
rels, ground  hogs,  and  savages  never  lived  after  the 
manner  outlined.  It  was  reserved  for  capitalism  to 
put  its  workers  in  a  position  to  live  gluttonously  a  part 
of  the  time  (if  at  all)  and  to  starve  the  rest  of  the 
time.  The  savages  who  were  so  advanced  that  they 
caught  fish  and  used  canoes,  caught  them  for  the  tribal 
store  house,  and  carried  large  stores  in  advance  of  the 
demand.  (4)  If  such  a  savage  had  made  such  a  boat, 
he  would  have  been  employed  at  once  making  boats 
and  showing  others  how  to  make  boats  for  the  whole 
tribe.  (5)  If  he  had  chosen  to  hold  a  boat  for  his  own 
pleasure,  he  would  have  been  permitted  to  do  so,  but 
with  two  boats  he  would  have  been  obliged  to  select 
one  for  himself  and  the  other  would  have  become  tribal 
property  if  needed  for  the  common  good.  (6)  He 
could  not  have  hired  other  savages  to  fish  for  him  or 
build  a  hut  for  him,  neither  could  he  have  hired  the 
wives  or  children  of  his  neighbors  to  become  his  fam- 
ily's servants.  The  savages  of  that  stage  of  develop- 
ment served  each  other  as  equals,  not  as  menials.  That 
was  reserved  for  civilization  to  introduce.  When  sav- 
ages lived  on  fish,  each  savage  was  alike  responsible 
for  all  the  duties  of  the  husband  and  father  for  all  of 
the  women  and  children  of  the  group.  (7)  He  ctmld 
not  have  rented  his  boat  for  a  part  of  the  catch.  Such 
a  proposal  such  savages  would  not  have  understood. 
Eent  is  a  part  of  capitalism.  (8)  He  could  not  have 
led  an  idle  life  while  others  provided  fish  for  him. 


308  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

He  would  have  helped  to  get  the  fish  or  he  would  not 
have  eaten.  A  leisure  class  which  others  feed  is  a 
part  of  capitalism.  (9)  He  could  not  have  made  boats 
for  sale.  There  was  no  private  market  for  private 
profits.7  (10)  It  is  seen  that  in  every  particular  this 
illustration,  by  which  we  are  to  learn  the  origin  of  cap- 
ital, is  contrary  to  the  facts.8  It  assumes  capitalism  to 
be  already  in  existence  and  proceeds  to  show  how  cap- 
italism might  be  born  by  having  capitalism  serve  as 
midwife  on  the  occasion  of  its  own  birth.  Thus,  in  the 
name  of  science,  is  a  false  position  defended  by  an  ar- 
ray of  assumptions  utterly  at  variance  with  the  facts. 

394.  John  Stuart  Mill  and  the  Duke  of  Argyll.  - 
John  Stuart  Mill,  when  facing  the  same  question,  ad- 
mits that  his  theory  does  not  at  all  agree  with  the  facts 
of  history.  He  says:  "In  considering  the  institution 
of  property  as  a  question  of  social  philosophy,  we  must 
leave  out  of  consideration  its  actual  origin  in  any  of 
the  existing  nations  of  Europe. '  '9  He  then  proceeds  to 
discuss  the  question  by  ' '  supposing, ' 9  not  a  savage,  but 
an  impossible  "  community,  unhampered  by  any  pre- 
vious possessions."  He  admits  that  no  such  commun- 
ity ever  existed  in  Europe.  The  fact  is  that  it  never 
existed  anywhere  else.  The  further  fact  is  that  in  the 
study  of  social  institutions  by  evolutionary  methods, 
the  most  important  item  of  all  is  the  "previous  pos- 
session, ' '  the  very  thing  which  Mr.  Mill  ignores  in  his 
discussion  of  the  origin  of  capitalism.  The  Duke  of 
Argyll  is  more  frank  and  truthful.  In  discussing  this 

7.  You  will  find  all  these  points  confirmed  in  Morgan's  Ancient 
Society,  or  by  any  other  standard  authority  on  the  life  of  savages  of 
the  stage  of  development  which  Mr.  Walker  assumes. 

8.  "Two   things   have   discredited   political   economy — the   one   is 
its  traditional  disregard  for  facts;  the  other,  its  strangling  itself  with 
definitions." — Rogers:     The  Economic  Interpretation  of  History,  Pref- 
ace, p.  viii. 

9.  Mill:     Political  Economy,  p.  260:  also  see  the  whole  of  Chapter 
V.  of  Book  I.,  Vol.  I. 


CHAP.  XXIV  ASSUMPTIONS  IN  ECONOMICS  309 

same  question,  lie  says:  "It  is  the  field  of  war,  the 
field  on  which  possession— the  right  of  exclusive  use 
over  some  particular  portion  of  the  earth— has  been 
won,  or  on  which  it  has  been  successsfully  defended. 
We  may  like  or  dislike  the  steady  contemplation  of 
this  truth,  but  it  is  a  fact,  nevertheless,  whatever  we 
may  think  of  it."10 

395.  War  the  Origin  of  Capital.— It  is  admitted 
that,  with  capitalism  once  in  existence,  certain  indi- 
viduals may  be  able  to  so  manage  as  to  corner  the  fish 
market  and  so  be  able  to  compel  the  wives  and  children 
of  their  neighbors  to  become  their  servants,  but  capi- 
talism itself,  the  private  ownership  of  the  means  of 
producing  the  means  of  life,  must  first  be  established. 
Not  until  the  private  ownership  of  the  canoe  was  made 
of  more  importance  than  the  life,  liberty  and  equality 
of  opportunity  for  men,  women  and  children  could  such 
a  capitalist  be  produced.     It  was  necessary  for  the 
capitalistic  class  to  appear,  on  the  one  hand,  and  for 
the  serving  class  to  appear  on  the  other,  before  "sav- 
ing, thrift  and  enterprise"  could  effect  the  rising  of 
an  individual  from  one  class  to  the  other,  and  this  forc- 
ing of  the  class  lines  which  separated  the  people  into 
the  two  conditions  of  mastery  and  servitude,  as  Mr. 
Mill  admits,  as  the  Duke  of  Argyll  directly  states,  and 
as  was  clearly  proven  in  our  study  of  the  origin  and 
development  of  capitalism  in  the  second  part  of  this 
volume,  was  the  work  of  war.    War  has  taken  the  earth 
away  from  the  people.     Socialism  will  restore  it  to 
them. 

396.  The  Right  to  Buy  and  Sell.— 4.  The  capital- 
ist assumes  that  there  can  be  no  right  to  property  of 
any  sort  which  one  may  not  buy  and  another  sell.11 

10.  Duke  of  Argyll:    Unseen  Foundations  of  Society,  p.  113. 

11.  Not  only  the  right  to  buy  or  to  sell  all  kinds  of  property  is 
assumed,  but  even  the  right  of  society  to  restore  to  public  ownership 


310  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

The  answer  is  that  the  right  to  the  means  of  produc- 
ing the  means  of  life  is  of  the  same  nature  as  the  right 
to  life  itself.  The  capitalist  contends  for  the  right  to 
buy  and  sell  productive  property.  The  Socialist  con- 
tends for  the  right  to  use  productive  property.  The 
capitalist  contends  for  the  sacredness  of  trade,  and  he 
will  admit  no  rights  which  will  in  any  way  imperil  the 
continued  possession  of  productive  property  in  the 
hands  of  those  who  have  it.  The  Socialist  contends  for 
the  sacredness  of  life,  and  will  admit  no  rights  which 
will  imperil  either  the  fullest  life  or  the  completest 
liberty  to  those  who  need  to  use  the  means  of  producing 
the  means  of  life. 

397.  Labor  a  Commodity.— 5.    The   capitalist   as- 
sumes that  labor  is  a  commodity,  and  as  such  may  just- 
ly be  bought  and  sold  in  the  labor   market.12     The 
answer  is  that  it  is  impossible  to  buy  or  sell  labor  apart 
from  living  laborers,  that  one  cannot  buy  or  sell  labor 
without  at  the  same  time  buying  and  selling  laborers, 
and  that  the  sale  of  a  single  laborer  for  a  single  hour 
is  a  crime  against  the  whole  race  of  man. 

398.  Self-interest.— 6.    The  capitalist  assumes  that 
the  sole  and  only  motive  in  industry  is  individual  self- 
interest.13 

The  answer  is  that  while  this  is  not  entirely  the 
truth,  the  very  great  force  of  self-interest  is  not  dis- 
puted. It  is  even  insisted  that  economic  conditions 
have  always  determined  all  other  social  forms  and  that 
the  whole  life  of  man  now  waits  for  social  and  po- 
litical adjustment  to  new  economic  conditions.  More 
than  this:  It  is  insisted  that,  while  associated  effort 
on  the  part  of  all  can  best  provide  for  the  needs  of 
each,  the  self-interest  of  the  individual,  when  each  is 

property   not  gotten  by  purchase  from  the  public,  but  by  force  and 
fraud,  is  also  denied.     See  Walker:      Political  Economy,  pp.   385-308 

12.  Walker:     Political  Economy,  pp.  259-287. 

13.  Walker:     Political  Economy,  p.  96. 


CHAP.  XXIV  ASSUMPTIONS  IN  ECONOMICS  311 

acting  alone  and  for  himself,  results  in  the  destruction 
of  public  spirit.  The  "good  business  man"  is  likely 
either  to  be  neglectful  of  his  public  duties  or  to  at- 
tempt to  take  advantage  of  the  public  needs  for  the 
sake  of  his  private  profit.  It  would  not  be  so  under 
Socialism.  When  no  one  can  serve  himself  except  at 
the  same  time  he  serves  society,  nor  serve  society  ex- 
cept he  serves  himself,  then  private  interest  and  public 
spirit  will  join  hands  as  mutually  helpful  economic 
forces.  The  more  recent  defenders  of  capitalism, 
speaking  in  the  name  of  the  science  of  economics,  are 
siding  with  the  Socialists  in  their  contention  that  in- 
dividual competition,  the  result  of  individual  self-inter- 
est, cannot  even  exist  as  an  active  factor  in  the  face 
of  great  combinations.14  Prof.  Hadley  says  in  the 
preface  of  his  " Economics ":  "The  size  of  the  units 
of  capital  is  so  large  that  free  competition  often  be- 
comes impossible,  and  theories  of  economics  which 
are  based  upon  the  existence  of  such  competition  prove 
blind  guides  in  dealing  with  modern  price  move- 
ments. ' ' 

399.  Economic  Justice.— 7.  The  capitalist  assumes 
that  under  competition  all  men  and  women  will  be 
able  to  secure  what  is  just,  and  so  provide  for  the  high- 
est welfare  for  each  to  which  he  can  be  justly  entitled.15 

14.  "You  cannot  escape,  try  whatever  you  can,  from  the  influence 
of    competition,    any    more    than    from    the    survival    of    the    fittest. 
But  the  survival  of  the  fittest  may  be  the  survival  of  the  analogue 
to  Frankenstein's  demon,  while  the  effort  of  all  true  civilization  is  to 
improve  those  who  are  improvable,  and  to  deal  with  the  residuum.    It  is 
possible    that    the    struggle    for    existence,   unless    controlled    and    ele- 
vated, may  be  the  degradation  of  all.    It  nearly  came  to  be  so  during 
the  first  thirty   years  of  the  present  century." — Rogers:      Work  and 
Wages,  p.  557. 

15.  Mill:     Political  Economy,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  378-381. 

"But  when  we  say  that  the  pecuniary  inequality  of  mankind  is  due 
to  a  corresponding  inequality  of  brain-power,  even  if  we  limit  this 
brain-power  to  the  'money-making'  quality  alone,  we  have  gone  a 
great  way  too  far.  We  have  left  out  one  of  the  most  important  ele- 
ments in  the  problem.  We  have  only  stated  the  subjective  side  of 
the  question,  and  have  neglected  the  objective  side.  We  shall  never 


312  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

The  answer  is  that  if  the  parties  to  the  competition 
were  exact  equals  in  strength,  skill  and  good  fortune, 
they  might  be  able  to  exactly  neutralize  each  other's 
efforts  to  serve  society  while  striving  with  each  other, 
but  so  long  as  any  share  of  their  strength  is  expended 
contending  with  each  other,  the  largest  production  can- 
not be  realized.  It  was  the  inequality  of  strength,  skill 
and  good  fortune  in  war  which  made  the  coming  of 
capitalism  possible  in  the  first  place.  Competition  be- 
tween the  weak  and  the  strong  does  not  mean  the  wel- 
fare of  both;  it  means  the  sweat-shop  for  the  helpless 
and  leisure  and  luxury  for  the  strong.16  Socialism  de- 
mands that  the  strength  of  society  be  used  to  per- 
petually maintain  equal  opportunities  for  those  un- 
equally endowed,  in  order  that  all  may  live.  Capital- 
ism demands  unequal  opportunities  for  those  unequal- 
ly endowed,  and  the  inequality  of  opportunity  which  it 
enforces  is  against  those  who  are  weak  and  in  behalf  of 
those  who  are  strong.  Capitalism  cannot  give  to  each 
the  highest  welfare  to  which  he  can  be  entitled.  It  pro- 
vides for  the  few,  great  and  unearned  benefits;  and  for 

be  wholly  right  until  we  remember  that  this  inequality  of  possession  is 
due  to  a  corresponding  inequality  of  circumstances.  The  inequality  of 
brain-power  is  only  the  subjective  part  of  these  circumstances.  We 
must  also  consider  the  objective  part,  the  external  circumstances  which 
surround  each  individual,  whether  belonging  to  the  fortunate  or  the 
unfortunate  class.  Men  come  into  the  world  and  find  themselves 
loaded  with  wealth  or  destitute  of  all  proprietary  interests.  They  are 
born  millionaires  or  beggars.  They  open  their  eyes  upon  boundless 
plenty  or  upon  abject  poverty.  They  merit  neither  praise  nor  blame 
for  the  conditions  under  which  they  exist.  However  commendable 
intellectual  qualities  may  be  considered,  they  have  nothing  to  do 
with  those  external  circumstances  over  which  we  have  no  control." — 
Ward:  Dynamic  Sociology,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  522-23. 

16.  "It  is  in  the  highest  degree  desirable  that  competition  should 
be  severe,  searching,  unremitting.  *  *  *  But  if  competition  is  to 
be  the  law  of  trade,  if  self-interest  is  to  be  its  predominant  force, 
the  members  of  the  employing  class  must  not  only  press  hard  upon 
each  other— the  harder  the  better— but  they  must  bear  heavily  on 
the  laboring  class;  and  the  more  heavily  the  better,  so  long  as  the 
latter  can  withstand  and  return  the  pressure.  *  * 

"This,  I  repeat,  is  the  ideal  industrial  condition:  that  the  body  of 
laborers  shall  be  able  to  offer  an  adequate  economic  resistance  to 
continuous  pressure  from  the  employing  class,  so  that  no  favors  need 


CHAP.  XXIV  ASSUMPTIONS  IN  ECONOMICS  313 

the  many,  great  poverty  as  pitiless  as  it  is  unde- 
served.17 

400.  "  Letting  Things  Alone. "-  8.  The  capitalist 
assumes  that  the  only  duty  of  society  toward  industry 
and  commerce  is  to  let  it  alone.18 

The  answer  is  that  all  factory  laws,  all  courts  for 
the  collection  of  debts,  the  enforcing  of  contracts  and 
the  punishment  of  crimes  against  property  are  a  re- 
fusal of  society  to  let  industry  and  commerce  alone. 
In  fact,  the  very  organization  of  society  itself  is  a  re- 
fusal to  let  alone  the  things  which  concern  the  whole 
body  of  the  people.  Society  does  interfere.  It  ought 
not  to  do  so  in  behalf  of  those  who  by  force  have  mo- 
nopolized the  resources  and  forces  of  nature  and  plead 
a  let-alone  policy  for  those  who  have  been  dispossessed. 
If  it  is  to  interfere  at  all,  it  should  do  so  in  behalf  of 
all.  But  then,  that  is  Socialism. 

be  asked,  on  the  one  side,  so  that  there  need  be  no  flinching  on  the 
other,  in  the  exaction  of  all  which  the  most  vigorous  prosecution  of 
self-interest  may  require." — Walker:  Discussions  in  Economics  and 
Statistics,  pp.  307-9;  see  also  "What  Shall  We  Tell  the  Working 
Classes,"  Scribner's  Magazine,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  619-27. 

17.  "Even  the  economists  are  beginning  to  see  that  'free  competi- 
tion' in  business  is  a  myth  unless  it  be  protected  from  the  universal 
tendency  of  all  competition  in  nature  speedily  and  surely  to  end  in 
monopoly." — Ward:     Pure  Sociology,  p.  568. 

"When  the  principle  of  competition  is  set  aside  capitalist  political 
economy  goes  with  it.  This  principle  is  fundamental  in  the  science, 
and  in  the  facts  of  which  it  treats,  unless  violence  intervenes."- 
Ba scorn:  Sociology,  p.  60. 

18.  "The  conflict  between  capital  and  labor  is  very  much  of  a 
delusion." — Laughlin:     Political  Economy,  p.  347. 

Mill:     Political  Economy,  Vol.  II.,  p.  569. 

"Had  economists  worked  out  the  most  important  part  of  their 
science,  that  which  deals  with  the  distribution  of  wealth,  instead  of 
merely  busying  themselves  with  hypothetical  theories  about  rent, 
profits  and  population,  they  would  have  inculcated  every  one  of 
those  legislative  acts  which  have  seemed  to  control  the  production 
and  distribution  of  wealth,  but  in  reality  have  assisted  the  former, 
and  have  made  the  latter  more  natural,  and  therefore  more  equitable. 
I  think  that  my  contention,  which  I  see  quoted  by  Mr.  Goschen,  could 
be  exhaustively  proved,  that  every  act  of  the  legislature  which  seems 
to  interfere  with  the  doctrine  of  laissez  faire,  and  has  stood  the  test 
of  experience,  has  been  endorsed  because  it  has  added  to  the  general 
efficiency  of  labor  and  therefore  to  the  general  well  being  of  society." — 
Rogers:  Work  and  Wages,  pp.  527-28. 

Ely:     Political  Economy,  p.  221. 


314  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

This  let-alone  contention  is  nothing  less  than  the 
assumption  that  might  is  right,  but  with  the  limita- 
tion that  the  collective  might  of  all  must  not  be  used  to 
protect  the  common  interest  of  all  against  the  individ- 
ual might  of  the  strong  in  their  contest  against  the 
weak.  "Let  things  alone "  means,  don't  interfere  to 
stop  the  athletic  thief  from  robbing  a  crippled  beggar. 

The  might  of  greater  strength,  greater  cunning  or 
the  accumulating  power  of  greater  or  better  organized 
industrial  equipment  in  private  hands  may  as  ruth- 
lessly rob  as  an  outright  highwayman,  and  society 
could  justify  its  protection  of  the  highwayman  as  eas- 
ily as  it  could  justify  its  protection  of  the  greater 
strength,  cunning  or  economic  equipment  of  the  pri- 
vate masters  of  the  shop  or  market,  in  their  economic 
war  against  those  with  inferior  equipment,  or  entirely 
without  the  means  of  producing  the  means  of  life.19 

401.  The  Iron  Law  of  Wages.— 9.  The  capitalist 
assumes  that  there  is  no  possible  provision  for  work- 
ing men  beyond  the  smallest  wages  for  which  the  work- 
ers will  consent  to  work  in  numbers  large  enough  to  do 
the  work  required. 

The  answer  is  that  this  is  true  under  capitalism,  but 
under  Socialism  there  will  be  no  such  iron  law  of 
wages. 

Under  capitalism  the  private  owners  will  always  be 
striving  to  make  the  share  of  the  products  which  falls 
to  the  workers  the  smallest  possible.  The  competition 

19.  "Seventy-five  years  ago  scarcely  a  single  law  existed  in  any 
country  of  Europe  for  regulating  the  contract  for  services  in  the  interest 
of  the  laboring  classes.  At  the  same  time  the  contract  for  commodities 
was  everywhere  subject  to  minute  and  incessant  regulation.  * 
Can  there  be  any  wonder  that  statesmen  and  the  mass  of  the  people 
entertain  slight  regard  for  political  economy,  whose  professors  refuse 
even  to  entertain  consideration  of  the  difference  between  services  and 
commodities  in  exchange,  and  whose  representatives  in  legislation  have 
opposed  almost  every  limitation  upon  the  contract  for  labor  as  un- 
necessary and  mischievous?" — F.  A.  Walker,  Quoted  by  Wright 
in  Some  Ethical  Phases  of  the  Labor  Problem,  pp.  65-66. 


CHAP.  XXIV  ASSUMPTIONS  IN  ECONOMICS  315 

for  employment  among  the  workers  in  the  face  of  this 
effort  to  reduce  wages  on  the  part  of  employers  estab- 
lishes this  tendency  of  wages  always  to  reach  the  low- 
est level  possible  and  still  provide  for  the  existence  of 
the  workers.  This  is  the  gist  of  the  iron  law  of  wages. 
It  is  obvious  that  it  will  remain  a  factor  in  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  products  of  labor  only  so  long  as  the  private 
owners  of  the  means  of  production  can  continue  to 
force  the  workers  to  compete  with  each  other  for  the 
opportunity  to  live  at  all. 

Under  Socialism  the  total  of  the  largest  product 
which  the  workers  are  willing  to  produce  will  be  the 
smallest  reward  for  the  workers  themselves,  for  under 
Socialism  those  who  are  workers  will  no  longer  be 
compelled  "to  divide  up"  with  those  who  are  idlers  in 
order  to  obtain  their  consent  to  become  workers  at  all. 

402.  Summary.— 1.  All  schools  of  economists, 
whether  assuming  the  existence  of  an  "economic  man" 
or  undertaking  to  observe  the  conduct  of  the  ordinary 
man  under  capitalism,  come  to  the  same  "dismal"  con- 
clusions as  to  the  lot  of  man  under  capitalism. 

2.  Present  institutions  can  be  understood  only  by 
studying  their  origin  and  the  processes  of  their  devel- 
opment. 

3.  The  capitalists  assume  all  the  leading  features  of 
capitalism  as  belonging  to  the  normal  and  lasting  lot 
of  man: 

(a)  They  assume  that  the  wage  system  is  the  nat- 
ural method  of  production.    In  the  same  sense,  so  was 
slavery  natural. 

(b)  They  assume  capitalism   always   to   have   ex- 
isted.   It  is  of  recent  origin. 

(c)  They  assume  that  capital  originated  in  saving, 
thrift  and  enterprise.    It  owes  its  origin  to  war. 

(d)  They  assume  that  labor  may  be  properly  bought 


316  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

and  sold.    But  labor  cannot  be  sold  except  the  laborer 
be  sold  with  his  labor. 

(e)  They  assume  that  the  sole  and  only  motive  in 
economics  is  individual  self-interest.     The   collective 
self  and  the  collective  self-interest  must  also  be  con- 
sidered. 

(f)  They  assume  the  existence  and  the  justness  of 
competition.    Free  competition  does  not  exist.    By  its 
own  activities  it  has  destroyed  itself. 

(g)  They  assume    the   wisdom    of   the    "let-alone 
policy."    But  they  let  nothing  alone  involving  their 
own  interests.    Society  ought  to  act  in  behalf  of  all  in 
all  matters  where  the  interests  of  all  are  involved. 

(h)  They  assume  the  necessary  existence  of  tne 
"iron  law  of  wages. "  This  law  holds  only  under  cap- 
italism. There  will  be  no  such  law  under  Socialism. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  State  difference  between    English    and    historical    schools    of 
economists. 

2.  Why  are  the  conclusions  of  both  schools  so  nearly  to  the  same 
effect? 

3.  From  what  sources  can  the  materials  be  obtained  for  study 
in  economics? 

4.  What  are  some  of  the  necessary  limitations  ? 

5.  Is  the  wage  system  natural? 

6.  How  old  is  capitalism? 

7.  What  is  the  origin  of  capital? 

8.  Discuss  positions  of  Walker,  Mill  and  the  Duke  of  Argyll. 

9.  On  what  is  human  progress  now  waiting? 

10.  Can  economic  justice  exist  under  capitalism? 

11.  Shall  society  "let  things  alone?"    Why? 

12.  Will  the  "iron  law  of  wages"  prevail  under  Socialism?    Why? 


CHAPTEK  XXV 

THEORIES   OF   VALUE 

403.  The  Exchange  of  Products.— The  workers  of 
the  world  are  now  producing  goods  to  be  sold  in  the 
world's  market.    Goods  produced  for  the  market  are 
called  commodities.    In  the  sale  and  purchase  of  goods 
the  fixing  of  a  price  at  which  the  purchase  or  sale  is 
made  is  necessary. 

The  purpose  of  all  production  and  sale  of  goods  is 
in  order  to  be  able  to  purchase  other  goods.  All  pur- 
chase and  sale  of  goods  is  of  the  nature  of  exchanging 
products  which  one  has  produced  in  excess  of  what 
he  wishes  to  use,  for  the  products  of  others  which  he 
also  wishes  to  use.  All  purchases  and  sales  which 
would  seem  to  be  exceptions  are  merely  steps  in  the 
process  by  which  the  producer  and  consumer  "get  to- 
gether, ' '  and  are  therefore  parts  of  this  process  of  ex- 
change. 

404.  Power  in  Exchange.— What    determines    the 
power  of  any  given  article  to  exchange  itself  for  other 
articles  in  the  market?1    How  many  caps,  shawls,  coats 

1.  "It  is  not  money  that  renders  commodities  commensurable. 
Just  the  contrary.  It  is  because  all  commodities,  as  values,  are  real- 
ized human  labor,  and  therefore  commensurable,  that  their  values  can 

317 


318  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

of  a  certain  kind  can  be  obtained  for  a  wagon  load  of 
wheat  of  a  certain  grade!  This  question  is  determined 
by  learning  the  value  of  the  wheat,  and  the  value  of 
the  caps,  shawls  and  coats  to  be  exchanged.  It  is  said 
that  many  things  have  value  which  cannot  be  ex- 
changed in  the  market  for  anything  at  all.  The  air  is 
the  usual  illustration  of  this  sort  of  value.  This  is 
called  "use  value "  and  is  not  a  matter  of  importance 
in  this  discussion. 

Value,  then,  is  the  power  which  an  article  has  to  ex- 
change itself  in  the  market  for  other  articles.  It  is 
quite  likely  that  no  other  subject  has  been  more  hotly 
disputed  by  the  economists  than  this  subject  of  value; 
the  question  of  controversy  being,  "What  creates 
value  ?" 

405.  The  Economists  and  Socialism.— Beginning 
with  John  Locke  in  the  last  decade  of  the  seventeenth 
century,2  Sir  William  Petty,  Adam  Smith,  Benjamin 
Franklin,  Eicardo,  John  Stuart  Mill,  Karl  Marx, 
Henry  George,  and  all  the  English  economists  prior  to 
the  work  of  Prof.  Jevons,  maintained  in  substantial 

be  measured  by  one  and  the  same  special  commodity,  and  the  latter 
be  converted  into  the  common  measure  of  their  values,  i.  e.,  into  money." 
—Marx:  Capital,  p.  66. 

2.  "And  thus,  without  supposing  any  private  dominion  and  prop- 
erty in  Adam  over  the  world,  exclusive  of  all  other  men,  which  can  no 
way  be  proved,  nor  any  one's  property  be  made  out  from  it,  but  suppos- 
ing the  world,  given  as  it  was  to  the  children  of  men  in  common,  we  see 
how  labor  could  make  men  distinct  titles  to  several  parcels  of  it  for  their 
private  uses,  wherein  there  could  be  no  doubt  of  right,  no  room  for 
quarrel. 

"Nor  is  it  so  strange  as  perhaps,  before  consideration,  it  may 
appear,  that  the  property  of  labor  should  be  able  to  overbalance  the 
community  of  land,  for  it  is  labor,  indeed,  that  puts  the  difference  of 
value  in  anything;  and  let  any  one  consider  what  the  difference  is  be- 
tween an  acre  of  land  planted  with  barley  or  sugar,  sown  with  wheat  or 
barley,  and  an  acre  lying  in  common  without  any  husbandry  upon  it, 
and  he  will  find  that  the  improvement  of  labor  makes  the  far  greater 
part  of  the  value.  I  think  it  will  be  but  a  very  modest  computation  to 
say,  that  of  the  products  of  the  earth  useful  to  the  life  of  man,  nine- 
tenths  are  the  effects  of  labor.  Nay,  if  we  will  rightly  estimate  things 
as  they  come  to  our  use,  and  cast  up  the  several  expenses  about  them — 
what  in  them  is  purely  owing  to  nature  and  what  to  labor — we  shall 


CHAP.  XXV  THEORIES   OF   VALUE  319 

agreement  that  labor  creates  value.  But,  as  Kirkup 
remarks, i  *  The  economists,  however,  did  not  follow  the 
principle  to  its  obvious  conclusions,  that  if  labor  is  the 
source  of  wealth  the  laborer  should  enjoy  it  all.  It  was 
otherwise  with  the  Socialists,  who  were  not  slow  to 
perceive  the  bearing  of  the  theory  on  the  existing  eco- 
nomic order."3 

406.  All  Theories  Lead  to  Socialism.— It  is  not  the 
purpose  of  this  chapter  to  enter  into  the  controversy 
as  to  which  of  the  many  theories  of  value  is  most  scien- 
tific, but  to  state  all  the  more  widely  known  theories 
of  value  and  to  point  out  that  all  alike  reveal  the  in- 
justice of  the  "existing  economic  order, "  and  that  it 
is  necessary  to  reorganize  production  and  exchange  if 
current  social  production  is  to  provide  for  the  current 
social  welfare. 

407.  Theories  of  Value.— Prof.  Gide  names  four  the- 
ories of  value.4    They  are  substantially: 

1.  Utility  is  the  cause  of  value. 

2.  Scarcity  is  the  cause  of  value. 

find  that  in  most  of  them  ninety- nine  hundredths  are  wholly  to  be  put 
on  the  account  of  labor." — Locke:  Civil  Government  (John  Morley 
Library  Edition),  p.  211,  et  seq. 

*  And  so  far  as  we  are  aware,  it  is  the  first  assertion 
that  Value  is  due  to  human  Labor." — Macleod:  History  of  Economics, 
p.  636,  thus  speaks  of  this  passage  from  Locke. 

"The  theory  which  bases  the  right  of  property  upon  labor  represents 
likewise  what  we  find  among  animals  and  among  savages.  A  pair  of 
birds  build  a  nest,  and  the  nest  then  becomes  the  nest  of  these  birds. 
The  savage  builds  a  hut  for  himself  and  his  mate,  and  it  becomes  his  hut 
until  a  stronger  tribe  comes  and  seizes  or  destroys  it.  He  may  be  said 
to  own  the  materials  and  the  site  by  the  right  of  first  occupation,  and 
the  finished  hut  by  the  right  of  labor.  Grotius,  in  criticising  the  Roman 
jurist  Paulus,  who  had  already  anticipated  Locke's  theory  and  made 
labor  a  justification  of  property,  points  out  that,  since  nothing  can  be 
made  except  out  of  pre-existing  matter,  acquisition  by  means  of  labor 
depends  ultimately  on  possession  by  means  of  occupation." — Ritchie: 
Natural  Rights,  p.  268. 

3.  Kirkup :    A  History  of  Socialism,  Chapter  VII.,  p.  157. 

4.  "Economists  have  always  sought  for  the  causes  of  value,  and 
each  school,  according  to  its  respective  tendencies,  has  fastened  on  to 
one  or  other  of  them.     Utility,  scarcity,  difficulty  of  attainment  and 
labor  are  the  principal  ones  which  have  been  specially  pointed  out  as 
the  real  cause  or  causes. — Gide:    Political  Economy,  p.  54. 


320  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

3.  Difficulty  of  attainment  is  the  cause  of  value. 

4.  Labor  is  the  cause  of  value. 

Prof.  Hadley  only  recognizes  what  he  calls  the  "com- 
petitive and  the  socialistic  theories  of  value,"  but  says 
there  may  be  "as  many  different  theories  of  value  as 
there  are  different  views  of  business  ethics. "  His 
competitive  theory  is  the  utility  theory  and  his  social- 
istic theory  is  the  old  theory  of  the  English  economists, 
namely,  the  labor  cost  of  production.5 

408.  Utility.— Prof.  Jevons,  who  was  the  first  to 
teach  the  utility  theory,  says :  ' ( Cost  of  production  de- 
termines supply;  supply  determines  final  degree  of  util- 
ity; final  degree  of  utility  determines  value,"  and  Prof. 
Alfred  Marshall  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  if  cost 
of  production  determines  utility  and  utility  determines 
value,  one  might  as  well  drop  utility  out  of  the  series 
and  agree  with  the  old  economists  that  cost  of  produc- 
tion (labor)  determines  value,  because,  says  Marshall, 
"If  A  causes  B,  and  B  causes  C,  then  A  causes  C."6 

5.  "Value  being  essentially  an  ethical  term,  we  may  have  as  many 
different  theories  of  value  as  there  are  different  views  of  business  ethics. 
But  these  views  fall  under  two  main  heads;  the  commercial  or  com- 
petitive theory,  which  bases  value  upon  what  the  buyer  is  willing  and 
able  to  offer  for  an  article;  and  the  socialistic  theory,  which  bases  it 
upon  what  the  article  has  cost  the  seller  in  the  way  of  toil  and  sacrifice. 
When  we  have  grasped  this  ethical  character  of  the  controversy  between 
the  commercial  and  socialistic  theories,  we  seize  more  clearly  upon  the 
points  which  are  essential  to  the  adjudication  of  this  controversy.  The 
question  between  the  two  parties  is  not  primarily  one  of  fact,  but  of 
advisability,  not  what  necessarily  determines  value,  but  what  kind  of  a 
price  we  shall  stamp  with  our  approval  by  calling  it  a  value.  The 
commercial  theory  is  that  the  value  of  an  article  is  the  price  which  it 
would  command  under  a  system  of  free  and  open  competition,  as  dis- 
tinct from  one  which  is  the  result  of  special  bargaining  or  fraudulent 
concealment.  In  this  sense,  the  market  price  represents  the  temporary 
value  of  an  article,  and  the  normal  price  represents  its  permanent  value. 
The  advocates  of  the  commercial  theory  hold  that  the  competitive  sys- 
tem serves  the  economic  interests  of  society  so  well  that  the  first  rule 
of  business  morals  is  to  conform  thereto,  and  that  the  demands  of  com- 
mercial justice  are  generally  satisfied  by  a  schedule  of  prices  made  under 
the  influence  of  fair  and  open  competition,  as  allowed  and  encouraged  by 
the  common  law  of  England  and  America." — Hadley:  Economics,  pp. 
92-93. 

0.    Marshall:   Principles  of  Economics,  p.  566. 


CHAP.  XXV  THEORIES   OF   VALUE  32i 

409.  Scarcity.— In  the  same  way,  it  might  be  said 
that  if  scarcity  causes  the  value  of  staple  commodities, 
more  labor  might  increase  the  supply  and  lessen  the 
scarcity,  or  less  labor  lessen  the  supply  and  increase 
the  scarcity.    And  so  again:  Labor  determines  scarcity 
and  scarcity  determines  value.    If  so,  then  labor  deter- 
mines value. 

410.  Difficulty  of  Attainment.— Again,  it  might  be 
said  that  if  difficulty  of  attainment  causes  value,  only 
labor  can  overcome  the  difficulties  and  produce  the 
goods.     The  only  possible  measure  of  the  difficulties 
is  labor,  and  so,  finally:    Labor  overcomes,  measures 
or  determines  difficulties;  difficulties  determine  value, 
or  labor  determines  value. 

411.  Competitive  and  Socialistic.— Take  Prof.  Had- 
ley's  competitive  theory  of  value  in  the  same  way. 
Competition  determines  value.    But  who  are  the  com- 
petitors ?    How  can  any  one  competitor  hope  to  outsell 
his  rivals  ?    Manifestly  only  by  offering  more  products 
for  a  smaller  sum.    How  can  he  do  this  ?    Only  by  more 
efficient  labor  or  better  machinery.     But  labor  pro- 
duced the  machinery.    Therefore,  more  or  more  effec- 
tive labor  expended  in  the  building  and  using  of  ma- 
chinery is  the  only  way  by  which  the  successful  com- 
petitor fixes  the  ruling  or  normal  price;  that  is,  estab- 
lishes the  value  in  the  market  of  any  given  article. 
And  so,  if  competition  causes  value,  and  labor,  in  build- 
ing and  using  the  machinery  of  production,  determines 
competition,  then  labor  determines  competition  and 
competition  determines  value.     Again,  drop  out  the 
central  step  in  the  series  and  labor  determines  value. 

412.  Labor  and  the  Produce  of  Labor.— Jevons 
says:    "I  hold  labor  to  be  essentially  variable,  so  that 
its  value  must  be  determined  by  the  value  of  the  pro- 
duce, not  the  value  of  the  produce  by  that  of  the  la- 


322  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

bor."7  Tliis  is  like  contending  that  a  son  is  as  tall  as 
his  father,  but  that  the  father  is  not  as  tall  as  the  son. 
If  the  produce  determines  the  value  of  labor,  in  the 
long  run,  then  it  can  do  so  only  because  of  its  relation 
to  labor  as  its  creator.  The  produce  cannot,  in  the 
nature  of  things,  determine  the  value  of  labor,  in 
the  long  run,  unless  conversely  the  labor  is  the  mea- 
sure of  the  value  of  the  produce. 

The  Socialists  would  be  just  as  willing  to  measure 
the  value  of  labor  by  the  value  of  the  produce  of  labor, 
as  to  measure  the  value  of  the  produce  by  the  labor. 
Stated  either  end  ahead,  this  is  the  very  core  of  the 
controversy.  Do  labor  and  the  produce  of  labor  imu 
tually  determine  the  value  of  each  other?  And  if  labor 
has  the  power  to  produce  goods  for  the  market  in  ex- 
cess of  what  it  can  buy  out  of  the  market,  is  not  that 
share  of  its  products  which  it  produces  and  cannot  buy 
a  surplus  product  which  it  is  compelled  to  produce  but 
cannot  have!8  If  it  can  produce  it,  why  can  it  not 
have  all  it  produces? 

413.  Marginal  Utility.— The  Austrian  economists 
while  not  abandoning  the  historical  method  have 
added  deductive  processes  to  their  methods  of  study. 
Wieser  and  Bohm-Bawerk  are  of  this  school,  as 
well  as  most  of  the  current  American  defenders  of  cap- 
italism. These  economists  contend  for  still  another 
theory  of  value,  that  is,  that  marginal  utility  deter- 
mines value9— that  is,  the  value  of  any  article  is  deter- 

7.  Jevons:    Theory  of  Political  Economy. 

8.  "We  know,  however,  from  what  has  gone  before,  that  the  labor 
process  may  continue  beyond  the  time  necessary  to  reproduce  and  in- 
corporate in  the  product  a  mere  equivalent  for  the  value  of  the  labor- 
power.    Instead  of  the  six  hours  that  are  sufficient  for  the  latter  pur- 
pose, the  process  may  continue  for  twelve  hours.     The  action  of  labor- 
power,  therefore,  not  only  reproduces  its  own  value,  but  produces  value 
over  and  above  it.     This  surplus  value  is- the  difference  between  the 
value  of  the  product  and  the  value  of  the  elements  consumed  in  the  for- 
mation of  that  product;  in  other  words,  of  the  means  of  production  and 
the  labor  power." — Marx:    Capital,  p.  191. 

9.  These  economists  mean  by  "marginal  utility"  practically  the 
same  thing  as  Professor  Jevons  meant  by  "final  utility." 


CHAP.  XXV  THEORIES   OF   VALUE  323 

mined  by  the  last  margin  of  demand.  This  means  that, 
had  the  price  been  higher,  some  one  who  did  buy  at 
the  current  price  and  whose  purchase  was  necessary 
in  order  to  maintain  the  price,  would  not  have 
bought;  and  so  the  "higgling  of  the  market "  would 
have  forced  down  the  average  price  in  the  market,  and 
so  the  value  of  the  article  in  question.  But  that  last 
margin  of  demand  for  any  given  article  may  constantly 
fluctuate,  as  labor  and  machinery  are  more  or  less  effec- 
tive in  the  production  of  the  articles  exchanged  against 
each  other,  and  so  labor,  in  the  building  or  using  of 
the  machinery  of  production,  comes  back  as  the  one 
universal  and  indispensable  factor  in  determining 
value. 

414.  Labor  and  Machinery.— If,  however,  a  distinc- 
tion is  to  be  drawn  between  labor  and  machinery,  and 
values  held  to  be  the  joint  product  of  both  labor  and 
machinery,  with  the  result  that  labor  is  getting  more 
than  its  share  of  the  product  in  wages,  and  machinery 
is  getting  less  than  the  share  which  machinery  creates, 
as  is  contended,  then,  inasmuch  as  machinery  has  no 
personal  needs,  no  standard  of  living  to  maintain  and 
no  children  to  educate,  the  workers  who  do  have  all 
these  demands  to  meet  ought  to  own  the  machinery 
in  order  that  they  may  have  for  their  own  use  the  total 
product  of  their  own  labor  and  their  own  machinery. 
And  it  is  not  sound  public  policy  not  to  so  provide  the 
workers  with  their  own  tools. 

415.  Justifying  Exploitation.— In  seeking  after  the 
" cause  of  value"  it  is  not  an  impertinent  inquiry  to 
ask  after  the  cause  of  this  change  in  the  theories  of 
value.    Why  have  the  economists  abandoned  the  old 
ground?    Why  do  they  persist  in  denying  that  labor, 
the  work  of  mind  and  hand,  past  and  present,  the  cre- 
ative power  of  man  applied  to  natural  resources,  cre- 
ates all  wealth  and  that  as  there  is  more  or  less  of  the 


324  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

waste  of  life  in  the  creation  of  any  given  article,  in  the 
long  run,  and  in  the  large  and  general  average,  there 
is  more  or  less  of  value  ?  Is  not  the  denial  of  this  labor 
theory  of  value  primarily  an  effort  to  find  a  theoret- 
ical justification  for  the  wealth  of  the  idlers  and  the 
poverty  of  the  toilers  1 

416.  Supply  and  Demand.— If  it  be  admitted  that 
marginal  utility,  that  is,  the  balance  of  supply  and  de- 
mand, fixes  the  ratios  at  which  articles  exchange  for 
each  other  at  any  given  time,  still  it  is  true  that  labor 
alone  can  provide  the  supply,  and  will  be  able  to  pro- 
vide the  supply  for  the  larger  or  smaller  demand  only 
as  the  larger  or  smaller  demand  is,  in  the  last  analysis, 
made  against  vital  human  energy  wasted  in  the  proc- 
esses of  production.    There  is  no  theory  of  value  under 
which  one  can  provide  more  seats  at  an  opera  with  the 
house  already  packed,  in  time  for  the  entertainment 
already  under  way,  or  increase  the  supply  of  straw- 
berries,  after  the   season   for   planting  has   already 
passed.    But  labor  alone  can  increase  the  number  of 
opera  seats,  or  the  strawberry  crop,  in  order  to  meet  a 
later  and  larger  demand. 

The  effort  to  find  an  economic  defense  for  the  ex- 
ploitation of  labor  through  abstract,  conflicting  theo- 
ries of  value,  will  not  avail.  They  cannot  change  the 
facts  of  the  current  economic  situation. 

417.  Service  for  Service.— No  Socialist  asks  for  the 
service  of  others  without  reward.    The  Socialist  can- 
not be  thrust  aside  from  the  effort  to  secure  to  all  the 
just  reward  of  industry  and  the  equal  opportunity  for 
all  to  be  industrious,  by  any  theories  regarding  the  ab- 
stract question  as  to  what  causes  value. 

418.  Monopoly  and  Value.— We  must  not  lose  sight 
of  another  and  most  important  consideration.    Price 
is  the  value  of  any  given  article  stated  in  terms  of 
money.    But  this  price,  this  value,  is  fixed  arbitrarily 


CHAP.  XXV  THEORIES   OF   VALUE  325 

as  to  some  articles,  by  the  trusts ;  and  the  power  of  tiie 
trust-controlled  articles  to  compel  an  exchange  in  the 
market  without  any  regard  to  the  cost  of  production, 
either  in  labor  or  in  the  use  of  machinery,  without  any 
regard  to  utility,  scarcity,  or  difficulty  of  attainment, 
'and  without  the  competition  on  which  Prof.  Hadley 
depends  to  determine  values,— this  power  to  force  ex- 
changes at  arbitrary  prices  is  purely  a  power  which 
exists  as  the  result  of  monopoly,  under  which  the  sole 
consideration  is  "not  to  charge  more  than  the  traffic 
will  bear."  If  it  be  said  that  this  is  the  very  process 
by  which  values  are  determined  and  that  "what  the 
traffic  will  bear"  is  the  measure  of  marginal  utility,— 
that  last  and  final  sale  without  which  prices  must  fall 
—then  the  answer  is,  that  this  is  essentially  not  a 
process  of  exchange,  but  of  outright  robbery.  It  is  tak- 
ing the  "golden  eggs"  as  rapidly  as  the  industrial 
"goose"  will  lay  them,  and  providing  the  goose  with 
such  returns  only  as  will  keep  up  the  laying  of  more 
eggs.  This  is  exactly  what  is  taking  place.  Labor 
is  able  to  sell  itself  only  for  the  cost  in  labor  of  produc- 
ing more  labor.  But  labor  produces  more  than  the 
cost  of  its  own  reproduction.  This  product  of  labor  in 
excess  of  the  labor  cost  of  producing  labor  is  the  ' '  sur- 
plus value"  of  Karl  Marx.  Its  appropriation  by  the 
capitalist  is  possible  because  of  monopoly  in  the  owner- 
ship of  the  means  of  producing  the  means  of  life.  ^  The 
process  of  creating  and  appropriating  this  surplus  the 
capitalist  calls  employing  labor.  The  Socialist  calls 
it  exploiting  labor. 

419.  Theft,  Not  Exchange.— This  is  not  exchange. 
It  is  theft.  It  is  the  robber  taking  all  the  victim  has, 
except  enough  to  induce  him  to  produce  some  more  in 
order  that  the  next  intended  robbery  may  still  be  pro- 
ductive of  the  largest  possible  returns.  But,  if  the  rule 
of  the  robber  is  to  be  ruled  out,  and  justice  in  exchange 


326  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

is  to  be  sought  for,  then  the  ultimate  of  all  exchanges 
is  an  exchange  of  the  services  of  labor.  And  there  can 
be  no  other  basis  than  that  of  service  for  service,  of 
labor  for  labor,— how  much  of  labor  in  producing  oil, 
for  how  much  of  labor  in  producing  bread  ?  No  theory 
of  values  can  apply  in  explaining  how  oil  sells  for 
thirty  times  its  cost,  both  in  labor  and  in  the  use  of 
machinery  in  its  production,  with  wide  fields  of  unde- 
veloped oil,  and  whole  armies  of  the  poorly  paid  wait- 
ing for  better  jobs.10  Private  monopoly  is  the  only  ex- 
planation. This  private  monopoly  is  unendurable.  It 
cannot  last.  Collective  ownership,  and  the  collective 
use  of  the  means  of  production,  is  the  only  remedy  for 
this  private  monopoly.  Collective  ownership  and  dem- 
ocratic management  will  leave  labor  the  only  claimant 
against  the  products  of  industry,  no  matter  what  the- 
ories of  value  may  be  thought  to  be  most  scientific. 

420.  Who,  Not  What,  Produces  Value.— "The  real 
question  is  not  what  produces  value,  but  who  produces 
value  1 ' '  And  if  the  real  producer  is  producing  values 
which  for  any  reason  he  cannot  have  for  his  own  use, 
while  those  who  produce  nothing  do  have  his  products 
to  use,  then  it  becomes  a  question  of  sound  public  pol- 
icy to  create  such  conditions  as  will  enable  those  who 
produce  values  to  have,  for  their  own  use,  the  values 
which  they  produce.11 

10.  "The  certainty  that  a  competitor  will  be  ruined,  if  he  appears, 
takes  away  all  probability  of  his  appearing;  and  this  probability  affords 
the  only  natural  check  of  any  importance  on  the  action  of  the  mo- 
nopoly."—Clark :    The  Control  of  the  Trust,  p.  75. 

11.  "Every  man  has  the  right  to  the  product  of  his  own  industry, 
because  it  is  a  part  of  himself;  into  it  he  has  put  a  portion  of  his  life. 
His  life  is  his  own,  therefore  this  portion  of  his  life  is  his  own.    The 
artist  paints  a  picture;  the  musician  composes  a  symphony;  the  author 
writes  a  book;  into  this  picture,  this  symphony,  this  book,  the  artist, 
musician,  author,  has  gone.     Because  the  artist  has  projected  himself 
into  the  picture,  the  musician  into  the  symphony,  the  author  into  the 
book,  this  product  of  himself  belongs  to  him.    And  what  is  true  of  the 
artist,  of  the  musician,  of  the  author,  is  true  of  every  laborer.     The 
shoemaker  projects  himself  into  the  shoes;  the  carpenter  into  the  house ; 


CHAP.  XXV  THEORIES    OF   VALUE  327 

421.  The  Share  of  Nature.— In  so  far  as  different 
persons  jointly  perform  necessary  services  in  the  cre- 
ation of  values,  let  each  have  his  just  share  of  the  values 
so  created.    If  nature  contributes  and  stands  ready  to 
contribute  in  the  production  of  value,  and  if  society  as, 
a  whole  contributes  and  stands  ready  to  contribute  in 
the  production  of  value,  then  no  possible  scheme  of  dis- 
tributive justice  can  justly  give  to  any  one  a  greater 
claim  than  to  each  and  to  all,  so  far  as  nature  and 
society  contribute  to  the  production  of  value. 

422.  Machinery.— If  machinery   and   organization 
contribute  and  stand  ready  to  contribute  in  the  crea- 
tion of  value,  they  are  lifeless  and  inanimate  things, 
and  can  have  no  wants,  and  therefore  can  have  no 
rights,  and  those  who  stand  between  the  worker  and 

the  loom-worker  into  the  cloth.  These  also  are  a  part  of  the  man.  Into 
them  he  has  put  his  brain  work  or  his  handiwork;  therefore  they  are 
his.  This  right  of  every  man  to  the  product  of  his  own  labor  is  a 
natural  right.  Society  did  not  confer  it;  society  cannot  take  it  away. 
Society  may  fail  to  protect  it,  or  may  violate  it,  but  the  right  itself  is 
absolute.  Wherever  organic  law  violates  this  right  it  is  unjust;  when- 
ever it  fails  to  protect  this  right  it  is  inefficient.  It  was  for  this  reason 
that  slavery  was  unjust.  The  injustice  of  slavery  did  not  lie  in  the  fact 
that  they  were  ill-fed,  ill-clothed,  or  ill-housed.  If  it  had  been  true  that 
they  were  better  housed  and  fed  and  clothed  in  slavery  than  in  free- 
dom, still  slavery  would  not  have  been  justified.  The  evil  of  slavery 
was  not  that  families  were  separated.  If  the  law  had  provided  ex- 
plicitly that  slave  families  should  not  be  separated,  still  slavery  would 
have  been  unjust.  The  injustice  was  not  in  specific  acts  of  cruelty.  If 
there  had  never  been  a  Legree,  still  slavery  would  have  been  unjust.  It 
was  not  that  the  slave  was  denied  education.  In  Rome  the  slaves  were 
educated,  and  authors,  copyists  and  literary  men  were  held  in  slavery, 
and  slavery  was  not  just.  The  wrong  of  slavery  lay  in  this:  that  per- 
sonality was  invaded;  the  product  of  the  man  was  taken  from  him; 
he  had  put  a  part  of  his  life  out  into  the  world  and  he  was  robbed  of  it. 
Whenever  and  howsoever  society  does  this,  it  does  injustice. 

So,  again,  if  society  is  so  organized  that  men  cannot  engage  in  pro- 
ductive industry,  it  is  unjustly  organized.  The  command,  "By  the  sweat 
of  thy  brow  shalt  thou  earn  thy  daily  bread,"  involves  a  prerogative 
even  more  than  a  command.  If  society  is  so  organized  that  large  masses 


country, — and  if  the  industrial  organization  of  to-day  remains  un- 
changed there  will  be  such  times  in  the  future,— when  thousands  of  men 
have  been  driven  into  that  enforced  idleness  which  is  the  Englishman's 
hell.  Any  organization  of  society  which  prevents  masses  of  the  people 
from  earning  their  daily  bread  by  the  sweat  of  their  brow,  or  which 


328  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

his  tools  must  render  a  better  service,  if  they  wish  to 
share  in  the  products,  than  simply  to  consent  to  the 
use  of  the  lifeless  tools  and  to  the  benefits  of  organiza- 
tion. If  they  can  prove  a  right  to  the  private  owner- 
ship of  the  tools,  which  the  workers  cannot  use  with- 
out the  consent  of  those  who  are  not  workers,  and 
these  idlers  will  not  consent  unless  they  be  permitted 
to  appropriate  values  they  do  not  create,  then  it  is 
contrary  to  wise  public  policy  that  the  workers  shall 
longer  be  without  the  tools  of  production  to  freely  use 
in  their  own  behalf. 

423.  Human  Energy  and  the  Landlord,  the  Capital- 
ist and  the  Laborer.— Nature  and  the  past  efforts  of 
society  may  have  provided  the  means  of  production, 
but  production  is  impossible  without  the  present  ex- 
penditure of  individual  human  energy,  that  is,  human 
life. 

That  in  the  production  of  value  the  landlord  con- 
tributes human  energy  or  life  is  denied. 

That  in  the  production  of  value  the  capitalist  con- 
tributes human  energy,  or  life,  in  the  form  of  machin- 
ery and  organization,  is  admitted.  That  he  contributes 
his  own  energy,  or  life,  is  denied.  Machinery  and  or- 
ganization are  simply  the  union  of  raw  materials,  freely 
furnished  by  nature,-  and  human  labor,  energy,  or  life, 
in  time  past.  It  will  be  rarely  found  to  have  been  pro- 
duced by  the  union  of  free  raw  materials  and  the 
labor,  energy,  or  life,  of  their  present  possessors.  The 

fails  to  enable  them  so  to  earn  it  if  they  will  to  do  so,  is  an  unjust  or- 
ganization of  society.  So,  any  organization  of  society  which,  allowing 
men  to  work,  still  fails  adequately  and  rightfully  to  adjust  the  relations 
between  the  workers,  and  takes  so  much  for  the  one  class  that  it  leaves 
practically  nothing  for  the  other  class,  or  leaves  them  but  a  mere  pit- 
tance and  bare  subsistence,  is  an  unjust  organization  of  society.  The 
man  who  has  put  his  life  into  his  labor  has  a  right  to  the  product  of 
that  life.  If,  in  the  complexity  of  modern  society  he  is  combined  with 
others  in  that  production,  lie  has  a  right  to  a  fair,  just  and  equable 
share  in  the  product  of  the  combined  industry." — Abbott:  Rights  of 
Man,  pp.  104-106. 


CHAP.  XXV  THEORIES   OF   VALUE  329 

fact  that  the  capitalist  possesses  the  machinery  and 
organization,  and  that  the  laborer  does  not,  is  not  a 
proof  of  the  former's  rightful  possession.  If  they  are 
to  be  used  to  impoverish  and  enslave  the  worker,  then 
this  situation,  instead  of  proving  the  capitalist  ?s  right 
to  social  protection  in  appropriating  the  products  of 
the  laborer,  only  proves  the  laborer's  right  to  social 
protection  while  he  constructs  for  his  own  use  the 
tools  of  his  own  industry. 

424.  The  Reward  of  Tyranny.— That  the   manager 
contributes  labor,  energy,  or  life,  in  the  management 
of  industry  is  not  denied.    The  Socialist  asks  that  all 
such  necessary  labor  shall  be  justly  rewarded.    But  the 
manager  does  not  contribute  what  the  workers  cannot 
better  contribute.    He  does  not  provide  the  manage- 
ment in  the  manner  most  economical  and  beneficial  to 
the  workers  themselves.    And  finally,  he  does  exercise 
personal,  tyrannical  control  in  the  management  of  the 
industry  of  others,  holding  the  workers  in  the  relation 
of  servants.    Whereas,  industrial  democracy  will  not 
only  produce  better  industrial  results,  but  will  imme- 
diately make  the  workers  free  men  and  women.    The 
managers  ought  not  to  be  rewarded  by  the  workers 
with  any  share  of  the  products  for  managing  the  en- 
terprise in  such  a  manner  as  secures  the  smallest  re- 
turns for  the  workers  and  holds  them  as  the  victims 
of  the  relation  of  mastery  and  servitude  as  the  condi- 
tion of  their  existence. 

425.  Summary.— 1.    The  value  of  any  article  means 
/'the  amount  of  its  purchasing  power  in  exchange  for 
.  other  articles  in  the  market. 

2.  If  value  is  created  by  labor,  it  follows  that  the 
laborers  who  create  the  value  ought  to  have  the  values 
their  labor  creates. 

3.  If  value  is  not  created  by  labor  alone  but  by 
"social  conditions,"  by  "mental  attitudes,"  by  ma- 


330  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

chines,  by  "social  f actors "  other  than  labor,  then 
sound  public  policy  demands  that  all  social  factors 
shall  serve  all  mankind  alike  and  the  least  society  can 
do  is  to  provide  equal  economic  opportunities  for  all. 

4.  All  theories   of   value   fail   in   the  presence  of 
monopoly,  and  monopoly  controls  the  means  of  produc- 
ing the  means  of  life.    Vast  organizations  of  industry 
make  possible  great  economies,  but  if  privately  con- 
trolled involve  monopoly. 

5.  Services  cannot  be  rendered  nor  goods  produced 
without  the  waste  of  human  energy,  or  life.    Whoever 
refuses  to  contribute  of  his  energy,  or  life,  to  the  ser- 
vice of  others  can  have  no  just  claim  to  the  service  or 
to  the  goods  which  are  produced  with  the  waste  of 
energy,  or  life,  of  others. 

6.  If  under  current  conditions  goods  are  so  pro- 
'duced  and  services  are  so  rendered  that  those  who  pro- 
duce goods,  or  render  service,  or  are  ready  to  render 
service,  cannot  secure  the  service  or  the  goods  of  others 
in  the  same  proportion  as  they  are  ready  to  serve 
others,  then  sound  public  policy  demands  such  a  change 
as  shall  create  such  conditions  as  will  make  this  possi- 
ble, but  that  is  Socialism. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  Why  is  the  exchange  of  goods  necessary? 

2.  What  single  thing  is  possessed  in  common  by  all  exchangeable 
goods  ? 

3.  What  is  value? 

4.  Who  first  taught  the  labor  theory  of  value? 

5.  Who  afterward  taught  it? 

6.  What  advantage  did  the  Socialists  take  of  this  theory? 

7.  Name  other  theories  of  value. 

8.  Who  first  taught  the  utility  theory  ? 

9.  Show  that  labor  has  an  important  place  in  all  theories  of  value. 

10.  Who  teach  the  marginal  utility  theory  ?    What  is  this  theory  ? 

11.  If  labor  and  machinery  are  joint  producers,  what  then? 

12.  How  is  labor  related  to  supply  and  demand? 

13.  How  does  monopoly  affect  all  theories  of  value? 

14.  What  is  meant  by  charging  all  the  traffic  will  bear?     What  is 
surplus  value? 

15.  What  is  the  only  rational  remedy  for  monopoly? 

16.  Compare  what  with  who,  in  the  inquiry  for  the  cause  of  value. 

17.  Who  contribute  to  production?    Who  should  share? 

18.  Can  the  service  of  the  private  manager  be  better  provided  for? 

19.  Why  is  private  management  objectionable? 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

JUSTICE  IN  EXCHANGE— THE  MONEY  QUESTION 

426.  The  Origin  of  Money.— In  the  earlier  forms  of 
society,  when  each  tribe  produced,  stored  and  used,  un- 
der common  ownership,  by  co-operative  labor  and  for 
the  common  use  of  all  the  tribe,  there  was  no  money 
because  there  was  no  private  exchange  for  profits  and 
so  no  call  for  any  general  medium  of  exchange.    There 
was  no  system  of  credits,  and  hence,  no  debts,  and 
therefore  no  call  for  a  means  by  which  the  debtor  could 
pay  and  discharge  the  claims  of  the  creditor.    There 
was  no  general  market,  and  hence,  no  demand  for  any 
single  measure  by  which  the  power  of  any  article  in  the 
market,  to  exchange  itself  for  any  other  article,  could 
be  easily  determined. 

427.  The  Necessity  for  Money.— With  the  develop- 
ment of  private  ownership  in  the  means  of  production, 
and  the  coming  of  the  market,  it  became  necessary  to 
provide  something  which  could  be  used  in  all  of  these 
several  ways.    The  occasion  for  money  did  not  exist 
until  private  ownership  in  the  means  of  production  and 
individual  enterprise  in  the  management  of  exchange 
had  first  come,  and  with  the  displacement  of  these  it 
will  again  disappear  in  all  of  the  main  functions  which 

331 


332  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

it  now  performs.  But  with  private  ownership  and  indi- 
vidual enterprise  in  the  work  of  production  and  ex- 
change once  in  force,  or  so  long  as  they  remain  in  force, 
there  can  be  no  subject  in  economics  of  more  impor- 
tance than  that  of  money.1 

It  is  the  purpose  of  this  chapter  to  show  just  what 
the  service  of  money  is,  how  great  its  importance  now 
is,  why  some  of  its  functions— and  those  the  ones  al- 
ways in  dispute— will  not  be  needed  under  Socialism, 
and  hence,  how  the  whole  money  question,  which  is  in- 
capable of  just  solution  under  capitalism,  will  vanish 
with  the  coming  of  the  co-operative  commonwealth. 

428.  Not  at  First  the  Creature  of  Law.— Money  was 
not  created  by  legislation.    It  existed  before  legislation 
and  independent  of  the  legislator.    It  came  into  exist- 
ence not  by  political  action,  good  or  bad.    It  came  into 
existence  along  with  the  market  and  solely  because  of 
its  economic  necessity. 

429.  Earliest  Forms  of  Money.— All  sorts  of  things 
have  been  used  as  money.    Cattle  were  an  old  form  of 
money.    The  word  "pecuniary,"  meaning  of,  or  relat- 
ing to  money,  is  derived  from  "pecus,"  meaning  cattle, 
and  so  there  is  preserved  to  us,  in  this  word,  an  allu- 
sion to  the  fact  that  among  all  European  peoples  the 
money  was  once  cattle.    Sheep,  wheat,  dates,  rice,  co- 
coa, olive  oil,  rock  salt,  tea,  tobacco,  whiskey,  beaver 
skins,  iron,  tin,  lead,  copper,  platinum,  and  gold  and 
silver,  are  among  the  things  which  have  been  used  as 
money.    The  American  Indians  had  a  method  of  mak- 
ing records  by  the  use  of  beads  so  strung  on  strings 
and  woven  together  as  to  make  a  hieroglyphic  repre- 
sentation of  things  and  events.    They  were  made  into 
belts  and  other  ornaments.    The  beads  were  made  of 

1.  "The  division  of  labor  converts  the  product  of  labor  into  a  com- 
modity, and  thereby  makes  necessary  its  further  conversion  into  money." 
—Marx:  Capital,  p.  81. 


CHAP.  XXVI  1HE   MONEY   QUESTION  333 

variously  colored  shells  and  embodied  a  good  deal  of 
labor.  The  finished  product  was  called  wampum  and 
was  used  as  money. 

430.  Necessary  Qualities.— It  was  found  by  experi- 
ence that  whatever  was  to  be  used  for  money  should 
possess  in  the  highest  degree  possible  five  qualities: 
(1)  It  should  be  imperishable;  (2)  have  large  value  in 
small  compass  and  weight;  (3)  be  capable  of  being  di- 
vided into  very  small  quantities,  and  be  reunited  if 
necessary  without  injury;  (4)  easy  to  recognize,  and 
(5)  all  samples  should  be  alike.   It  is  because  silver  and 
gold  so  largely  possess  these  qualities  that  they  were 
finally  adopted  as  the  money  of  the  world.2 

While  money  was  at  the  first  established  by  the 
economic  necessities  of  the  market,  when  once  estab- 
lished, political  intrigue  and  legislative  action  in  the 
manipulation  of  the  money  metals,  and  in  making  na- 
tional notes  or  bonds  for  payment  in  one  or  the  other, 
or  both  of  them,  have  at  one  time  protected  and  at 
another  defrauded  the  public  through  all  the  years  of 
their  history. 

431.  Its  Functions.— According  to  the  economists 
there  are  three  functions  of  money:  (1)  a  medium  of  ex- 

2.  "The  ideal  requisites  for  a  perfect  money  material  have  been  well 
stated,  among  others,  by  Jevons;  but  it  is  necessary  to  separate  these, 
accordingly  as  they  apply  to  a  standard,  or  to  a  medium  of  exchange: 

I.  Standard  (1)  Value;   (2)  Standard  of  value. 

II.  Medium  of  Exchange;    (3)   Portability;    (4)    Indestructibility; 
(5)  Homogeneity;   (6)  Divisibility  (and  reunion)  ;    (7)  Cognizibility. 

"It  will  be  seen  at  a  glance  that,  where  the  medium  of  exchange  is 
different  from  the  standard,  the  requisites  can  not  be  indifferently  ap- 
plied to  both.  Articles  whose  prices  are  expressed  in  terms  of  the 
standard,  may  be  actually  exchanged  by  means  which  do  not  call  the 
standard  into  use.  '  h  As  soon  as  legal  conditions  permitted  any 

permanence  of  contracts,  and  as  soon  as  the  time  element  entered 
materially  into  industrial  relations  (especially  with  the  extension  of 
division  of  labor),  the  third  function  of  money  as  a  standard  of  deferred 
payments  assumed  importance.  This  function,  however,  is  not  different 
from  that  of  a  simple  standard,  except  that  the  former  covers  compari- 
sons in  which  the  time  element  appears.  By  some  it  might  be  regarded 
only  as  a  case  of  the  standard  function.  It  is  not  important,  however, 
how  it  is  distinguished,  provided  only  that  the  problems  arising  from 
the  time  element  in  contracts  shall  receive  full  attention." — Laughlin: 
The  Principles  of  Money,  pp.  21-22. 


334  QUESTIONS  OP  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

change;  (2)  a  measure  of  value;  (3)  a  standard  for 
the  settlement  of  deferred  payments. 

432.  A  Medium  of  Exchange. — 1.  As  a  medium  of 
exchange  money  is  simply  a  labor-saving  device.  One 
produces  bread  only  and  wishes  to  exchange  bread  in 
the  market  for  all  his  other  necessities,  such  as  other 
articles  of  food  and  his  clothing,  fuel  and  house  rent. 
With  such  a  purpose  in  mind  he  comes  with  a  load  of 
bread.  But  suppose  there  is  no  money,  no  single  ar- 
ticle which  can  be  used  with  which  to  fix  the  price  of 
the  bread  and  of  all  the  articles  to  be  obtained  with 
bread.  How  many  loaves  of  bread  for  a  ton  of  coal,  a 
coat,  a  month's  rent?  Before  he  can  sell  his  bread  he 
must  fix  a  price,  and  as  there  is  no  money  he  must  make 
up  a  list  of  all  the  articles  he  wants,  about  the  cost  of 
production  of  most  of  which  articles  he  knows  little  or 
nothing,  but  nevertheless  he  must  fix  a  price  for  each, 
in  bread,  or  a  price  for  his  bread  in  each  of  the  other 
articles,  which  is  the  same  thing.  How  many  loaves  of 
bread  is  a  coat  worth?  How  many  loaves  of  bread  is 
a  ton  of  coal  worth  ?  If  he  will  make  up  a  full  market 
report  of  the  price  of  bread  he  must  make  an  entry  for 
every  other  article  in  the  market.  If  the  merchant 
wanted  to  mark  the  price  of  his  goods  and  there  were 
but  one  hundred  articles  in  the  market  and  no  money 
in  existence,  he  would  be  obliged  to  make  as  many  en- 
tries for  each  article  as  he  had  articles  in  his  store. 

But  this  is  not  all.  When  our  baker  had  established 
the  value  of  his  bread  in  all  of  the  articles  which  he  de- 
sired to  purchase,  it  would  yet  be  necessary  to  find 
those  who  had  the  food,  clothing,  fuel  and  rent  in  quan- 
tities to  exchange  for  bread  and  of  the  kinds  and  qual- 
ities which  the  baker  could  use.  It  is  readily  seen  that 
it  would  be  an  impossible  undertaking  to  find  the  man 
who  would  have  what  the  baker  wants  and  would  want 
what  the  baker  has.  Under  the  wage  system  it  would 


CHAP.  XXVI  THE   MONEY   QUESTION  335 

be  about  as  impossible  to  do  business  without  money 
as  it  would  be  to  do  business  without  transportation. 
And  so  all  races  of  men,  whenever  they  have  reached 
the  stage  of  attempting  exchanges  have  hit  upon  some 
article  which  all  would  accept,  not  because  all  wanted 
to  use  the  article,  but  inasmuch  as  all  would  accept 
it,  the  prices  of  all  other  articles  could  be  fixed  in  the 
terms  of  this  one  article,  and  so  all  articles  be  more 
easily  exchanged  for  each  other. 

433.  A  Measure  of  Value.— 2.    The  economists  also 
teach  that  money  is  a  measure  of  value.3    It  is  easy 
enough  to  use  a  foot  rule  in  measuring  lengths.    How 
can  one  use  money  to  measure  the  value  of  things  ?    In 
doing  this  there  are  two  things  to  be  comprehended: 
one  is  the  measure  itself  and  other  is  the  thing  meas- 
ured.   The  length  of  the  foot  rule  is  arbitrarily  deter- 
mined by  a  standard  foot  with  which  any  particular 
rule  can  be  compared.    With  this  for  a  standard,  the 
length  of  which  is  easily  comprehended,  it  is  easy  to  de- 
termine and  to  understand  greater  or  shorter  lengths 
by  applying  the  rule.    Not  so  with  money.    To  be  sure 
there  is  a  standard  dollar,  but  that  is  a  standard  of 
weight  and  fineness  by  which  the  weight  and  fineness 
of  any  particular  dollar  can  be  determined;  but  that 
does  not  in  any  way  help  us  to  understand  the  value  of 
the  dollar,  of  proper  weight  and  fineness,  which  is  it- 
self to  be  the  measure  of  other  values.    How  can  this 
measure  of  value  itself  be  measured  so  that  one  can 
comprehend  its  value  and  so  comprehend  the  value  of 
the  other  things  to  which  this  measure  may  be  applied  ? 

434.  Value.— In  the  discussions  of  the  economists 
they  make  the  word  " value"  mean  the  power  which 

3.  "The  first  chief  function  of  money  is  to  supply  commodities  with 
the  material  for  the  expression  of  their  values,  or  to  represent  their 
values  as  magnitudes  of  the  same  denomination,  quantitatively  equal, 
and  quantitatively  comparable.  It  thus  serves  as  a  universal  measure 
of  value."— Marx:  Capital,  p.  66. 


336  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

any  given  article  lias  to  exchange  itself  in  the  market 
for  other  articles,  and  the  word  "price"  is  made  to 
mean  that  exchange  value  expressed  in  the  terms  of 
money,  as  in  dollars  and  cents.4  Thus  it  is  seen  that 
any  article  has  more  or  less  value  as  it  is  able  to  ex- 
change itself  for  a  larger  or  smaller  quantity  of  other 
goods ;  and  the  price  is  high  or  low  as  it  indicates  the 
greater  or  less  power  of  an  article  to  so  exchange  itself 
for  other  things. 

435.  A  Common  Quality  of  All  Goods.— There  is 
only  one  thing  which  the  things  which  have  power  to 
exchange  themselves  in  the  market  all  have  in  com- 
mon, and  that  is  the  labor  power,  the  waste  of  human 
life  expended  in  their  production.  This  is  as  true  of 
the  original  dollar  as  it  is  of  wheat  or  cloth.  Just  as 
all  things  have  length,  and  so  a  fixed  and  standard 
rule  of  given  length  can  be  used  to  measure  all  other 
things  as  to  length,  so  all  of  the  things  in  the  market, 
which  have  power  there  to  exchange  themselves  for 
other  things,  have  this  one  quality  in  common,  and  no 
other,  that  the  production  of  each  article  involves  the 
waste  of  human  life.  If  there  is  to  be  any  measure 
which  can  determine  the  relation  of  these  articles  to 
each  other  it  must  be  something  common  to  them  all, 
and  further  it  must  be  something  which,  if  possessed  in 
a  larger  or  smaller  degree,  will  correspondingly  in- 
crease or  diminsh  the  power  of  any  article  to  exchange 
itself  for  other  things.  That  which  is  exchanged  in 
the  market  is  not  really  wheat  and  cloth  and  iron;  it  is 
the  services  which  produced  the  wheat  and  cloth  and 
iron,  the  human  energy,  that  is,  the  human  life  ex- 
pended in  their  production;  and  hence,  the  real  ques- 
tion, always  unstated,  but  always  present,  is:  How 
much  of  human  life  expended  in  the  production  of 

4.     ''Price  is  the  money-name  of  the  labor  realized  in  a  commodity." 
—Marx:    Capital,  p.  74. 


CHAP.  XXVI  THE   MONEY    QUESTION  337 

wheat  shall  be  exchanged  for  how  much  of  human  life 
expended  to  produce  cloth  or  iron?  The  same  thing  is 
true  of  all  other  articles  in  the  market,  including  the 
gold  in  a  dollar  as  truly  as  the  cotton  in  a  shirt. 

Under  capitalism  it  is  assumed  that  gold  or  silver, 
or  silver  and  gold  together,  with  printed  promises  to 
pay  one  or  the  other  or  both,  can  be  used  as  a  just 
measure  of  value.  This  will  be  disputed  further  on, 
but  in  this  place  the  purpose  is  to  make  clear  how  this 
measure  of  value  is  applied  in  actual  use. 

438.  Applying  the  Measure.— If  one  goes  into  the 
market  with  any  article  which  he  has  made,  he  knows 
what  it  has  cost  him  in  labor.  If  he  knows  nothing  of 
the  other  articles  and  the  price  is  fixed  on  them  in  tKe 
terms  of  some  other  article,  as  money,  and  he  can  learn 
the  price  of  the  article  which  he  has  brought,  through 
his  knowledge  of  his  own  article,  and  his  ability  to 
compare  its  price  with  the  price  of  all  the  rest,  he  can 
at  once  measure  the  value  of  all  the  other  articles,  as 
related  to  his  own,  and  so  be  able  to  understand  their 
relation  to  himself,  as  a  wealth-producer,  and  to  esti- 
mate with  some  degree  of  accuracy  what  each  article 
would  cost  him  in  time  and  toil  to  become  its  possessor. 

437.  Both  Medium  and  Measure.— The  value  of 
other  things  in  the  market  is  determined  by  their  abil- 
ity to  exchange  for  more  or  less  money.  The  value  of 
money  is  in  the  same  way  determined  by  its  ability  to 
exchange  for  more  or  less  of  other  things.  An  indi- 
vidual is  able  to  comprehend  the  range  of  all  values  by 
the  relation  of  the  price  of  each  in  money  to  the  price 
of  some  article  which  he  has  himself  produced.  He  ex- 
changes his  own  products  for  money  only  to  again  ex- 
change the  money  for  other  products.  He  is  exchang- 
ing his  own  products,  which  he  cannot  use,  for  the 
products  of  others,  which  he  can  use,  and  money  not 
only  acts  as  a  medium  of  exchange,  but  measures  and 


338  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

reveals  the  value  of  each  article  while  making  the  ex- 
change. 

The  value  which  things  have  for  use  independent 
of  their  power  in  the  market  is  called  use  value.  Air 
has  the  greatest  use  value  but  no  exchange  value. 
Money  as  a  measure  of  value  has  to  do  with  exchange 
values  only.  There  is  no  such  thing  in  economics  as  a 
measure  of  use  values.  Political  economy  takes  no  ac- 
count of  use  values.  It  only  deals  with  things  as  re- 
lated to  the  market.  It  is  the  power  of  things  in  the 
market  to  exchange  themselves  for  other  things  which 
it  is  the  function  of  money  to  measure. 

438.  A  Standard  of  Deferred  Payments.— 3.  The 
economists  further  teach  that  it  is  the  function  of 
money  to  act  as  a  standard  for  the  settlement  of  de- 
ferred payments. 

Whatever  is  the  standard  for  the  settlement  of  de- 
ferred payments  ought  not  to  fluctuate  in  its  own 
value;  that  is,  its  ability  to  exchange  itself  for  the  gen- 
eral average  of  other  things  ought  to  be  the  same  at 
all  times.  If  one  sells  and  buys  again  at  the  same  time, 
the  same  range  of  prices  is  in  force  when  he  buys  as 
when  he  sells.  The  measure  and  medium  of  exchange 
has  not  had  the  time  to  shrink  or  lengthen  after  he  has 
let  go  the  article  of  his  own  production,  and  before  he 
has  gotten  the  article  which  he  was  seeking  for  his 
own  use.  But  if  one  sells  today  and  then  buys  a  year 
later,  it  will  be  rare  indeed  that  he  will  be  able  to  buy 
for  the  same  money  the  same  things  as  when  he  sold 
a  year  before.  Or  if  one  lends  to  another  on  a  year's 
time,  it  will  be  very  rare  that  he  will  be  able  to  buy 
the  same  things  for  the  same  money  on  the  day  of  pay- 
ment as  when  the  loan  was  made.  If  he  lends  wheat 
and  wheat  is  to  be  paid  again  and  the  price  of  wheat 
doubles  in  the  meantime,  other  things  remaining  un- 
changed, he  can  buy  twice  as  much  .with  the  wheat  re- 


CHAP.  XXVI  THE   MONEY   QUESTION  339 

turned  as  he  could  have  bought  with  the  wheat  he  had 
lent  at  the  time  the  loan  was  made.  In  the  same  way 
if  one  borrows  money  with  which  to  buy  from  the  mar- 
ket things  for  his  use,  and  depends  on  selling,  at  a 
later  day  in  order  to  get  the  money  with  which  to 
make  repayment,  if  the  range  of  prices  goes  down,  that 
is,  if  the  value  of  money  as  measured  by  the  things  it 
will  buy,  goes  up,  then  the  debtor  must  sell  more  things 
to  get  the  money  with  which  to  make  his  payment  than 
he  was  able  to  buy  with  the  money  he  had  borrowed. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  average  prices  had  advanced, 
that  is,  if  money  had  become  cheaper  as  compared  with 
the  things  which  it  would  buy,  then  the  debtor  would 
sell  fewer  things  to  get  the  money  with  which  to  make 
his  repayment  and  the  creditor  would  be  able  to  buy 
fewer  things  with  the  money  paid,  although  he  had  the 
same  number  of  dollars,  than  he  could  have  bought 
with  the  money  he  lent  at  the  time  the  loan  was  made. 
439.  The  Debtor  and  Creditor.— Every  increase  in 
the  value  of  money,  as  compared  with  things  which 
money  buys,  is  a  benefit  to  the  creditor  and  an  injury 
to  the  debtor.  Every  decrease  in  the  value  of  money  is 
a  corresponding  injury  to  the  creditor  and  benefit  to 
the  debtor.  This  is  the  reason  why  those  who  have  lent 
money  are  always  wanting  it  to  be  scarce  and  therefore 
dear,  and  those  who  have  borrowed  money  always 
want  it  plentiful  and  therefore  cheap.  It  shows  why 
in  every  money  war  the  creditors  and  debtors  are  al- 
ways arrayed  against  each  other.5 
.  440.  The  Ratio  Between  Other  Things  and  Dollars. 
—It  is  a  general  law  of  the  economists  that  whenever 

5.  "The  question  of  money,  or  of  credit,  for  they  are  the  same,  is 
only  of  superficial  importance,  and  really  does  not  interest  the  wage 
worker,  being  wholly  a  question  between  the  debtor  and  the  creditor 
class.  When  the  creditor  lends  his  money,  he  wants  it  cheap,  or  rather 
plenty,  with  a  minimum  purchasing  power.  When  he  collects  it,  he 
wants  it  dear,  with  a  maximum  purchasing  power." — J.  K.  Ingalls: 
Economic  Equities,  p.  54. 


340  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

the  supply  of  any  article  is  increased,  the  demand  re- 
maining the  same,  the  power  of  any  fixed  amount  of 
that  article  to  exchange  itself  for  other  things,  that  is, 
its  value,  is  correspondingly  decreased;  but  if  the  sup- 
ply should  be  decreased,  under  the  same  conditions, 
then  the  value  would  correspondingly  increase.  Stated 
in  another  way  this  law  means  that  a  big  crop  means 
a  low  price  per  bushel,  and  a  crop  failure  a  large  price 
per  bushel.  When  this  law  is  applied  to  money  it 
works  in  the  same  way  as  when  applied  to  any  other 
article.  It  means  that  the  more  money  there  is  in  cir- 
culation and  available  for  business  the  less  each  dollar 
will  buy  and  the  easier  it  is  for  those  with  other  things 
to  sell  to  get  dollars,  but  it  also  means  that  the  fewer 
dollars  there  are  in  circulation  and  available  for  busi- 
ness the  more  each  dollar  will  buy  and  the  harder  it  is 
for  those  with  other  things  to  sell  to  get  dollars  in  ex- 
change for  other  things. 

441.  Printed  Dollars.— In  consideration  of  this  fact 
it  has  been  proposed  to  abandon  the  plan  of  having 
the  material  of  each  dollar  of  the  same  value  as  the 
dollar  itself  and  to  substitute  printed  dollars,  of  no 
value  in  themselves  but  to  make  them  valuable  not  as 
has  been  so  often  said,  by  ' l  act  of  congress ' '  declaring 
them  valuable,  but,  through  the  power  of  congress  to 
make  them  receivable  for  government  charges,  by  mak- 
ing them  receivable  by  all  who  enforce  their  collections 
through  the  courts  and  by  limiting  their  volume.  It 
is  this  power  to  determine  what  shall  pass  as  a  legal 
tender,  be  receivable  for  public  charges  and  the  power 
to  control  the  volume  of  money  which  could  make  a 
good  and  sound  currency,  without  gold,  by  act  of  con- 
gress, if  it  were  only  certain  that  congress  itself  would 
at  all  times  be  good  and  sound.  There  is  no  mathemat- 
ical or  economic  difficulty  in  the  way  of  doing  so,  but 
there  would  be  no  natural  limit  to  the  number  of  dollars 


CHAP.  XXVI  THE   MONEY   QUESTION  341 

which  might  be  printed.  It  is  evident  that  the  credit- 
ors would  always  be  struggling  for  fewer  dollars  and 
the  debtors  for  more  of  them,  and  the  danger  of  disas- 
ter would  always  be  present  in  every  act  of  congress. 
By  act  of  congress  the  volume  could  be  unduly  limited 
asi  well  as  unduly  extended  and  there  would  be  the 
possibility  of  using  the  action  of  congress  to  distress 
the  debtor  as  well  as  for  his  relief.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  in  dealing  with  the  greenbacks,  the  power  of  con- 
gress has  been  almost  uniformly  used  in  the  interest  of 
those  who  were  anxious  for  fewer  dollars  rather  than 
for  the  relief  of  those  who  would  be  helped  by  the 
larger  number  of  dollars. 

442.  Bank-Made  Money.— The  money-lenders  have 
resorted  to  the  paper  dollar  of  the  private  banking 
corporations.6  While  in  the  use  of  such  money  disaster 
is  likely  to  fall  all  the  time  on  the  borrowers,  the  dan- 
ger of  its  use  is  greater  than  in  the  use  of  ' i  money  by 

6.  "The  system  of  public  credit,  i.  e.,  of  national  debts,  whose 
origin  we  discover  in  Genoa  and  Venice  as  early  as  the  middle  ages, 
took  possession  of  Europe  generally  during  the  manufacturing  period. 
The  colonial  system  with  its  maritime  trade  and  commercial  wars  served 
as  a  forcing-house  for  it.  Thus  it  first  took  root  in  Holland.  National 
debts,  i.  e.,  the  alienation  of  the  state, — whether  despotic,  constitutional 
or  republican — marked  with  its  stamp  the  capitalistic  era.  The  only 
part  of  the  so-called  national  wealth  that  actually  enters  into  the  col- 
lective possessions  of  modern  peoples  is — their  national  debt.  Hence,  as 
a  necessary  consequence,  the  modern  doctrine,  that  a  nation  becomes  the 
richer  the  more  deeply  it  is  in  debt.  Public  credit  becomes  the  credo  of 
capital,  and  with  the  rise  of  national  debt-making,  want  of  faith  in  the 
national  debt  takes  the  place  of  the  blasphemy  against  the  holy  ghost, 
which  may  not  be  forgiven. 

"The  public  debt  becomes  one  of  the  most  powerful  levers  of  prim- 
itive accumulation.  As  with  the  stroke  of  an  enchanter's  wand,  it  en- 
dows barren  money  with  the  power  of  breeding  and  thus  turns  it  into 
capital,  without  the  necessity  of  its  exposing  itself  to  the  troubles  and 
risks  inseparable  from  its  employment  in  industry,  or  even  in  usury. 
The  state  creditors  actually  give  nothing  away,  for  the  sum  lent  is 
transformed  into  public  bonds,  easily  negotiable,  which  go  on  func- 
tioning in  their  hands  just  as  so  much  hard  cash  would.  But  further, 
apart  from  the  class  of  lazy  annuitants  thus  created,  and  from  the 
improvised  wealth  of  the  financiers,  middlemen  between  the  government 
and  the  nation — as  also  apart  from  the  tax-farmers,  merchants,  private 
manufacturers,  to  whom  a  good  part  of  every  national  loan  renders 
the  service  of  a  capital  fallen  from  heaven — the  national  debt  has 
given  rise  to  joint  stock  companies,  to  dealings  in  negotiable  effects  of 


342  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

the  act  of  congress."  This  bank  note  money  puts  the 
control  of  the  volume  of  money,  and  hence  of  its  value, 
into  the  hands  of  a  small  class  in  a  way  which  makes 
possible  the  turning  of  both  the  increase  and  decrease 
of  the  volume  of  money  to  their  own  benefit.  They  will 
be  able  to  make  money  plentiful  and  prices  high  when 
they  are  lending  money  and  accepting  collaterals,  but 
there  will  be  nothing  to  prevent  them  from  making  it 
scarce  and  dear  when  they  get  ready  to  withdraw  from 
circulation  their  own  money  and  to  keep  both  the 
money  and  the  collaterals.7 

Asset  banking  is  simply  a  proposal  to  base  the 
bank's  circulation  on  whatever  securities  may  be 
deemed  satisfactory  to  the  public  authorities,  after  the 

all  kinds,  and  to  agiotage,  in  a  word  to  stock  exchange  gambling  and 
the  modern  bankocracy. 

"At  their  birth  the  great  banks,  decorated  with  national  titles,  were 
only  associations  of  private  speculators,  who  placed  themselves  by  the 
side  of  the  governments,  and,  thanks  to  the  privileges  they  received, 
were  in  a  position  to  advance  money  to  the  state.  Hence  the  accumula- 
tion of  the  national  debt  has  no  more  infallible  measure  than  the  suc- 
cessive rise  in  the  stock  of  these  banks,  whose  full  development  dates 
from  the  founding  of  the  Bank  of  England  in  1694.  The  Bank  of  Eng- 
land began  with  lending  its  money  to  the  government  at  8  per  cent;  at 
the  same  time  it  was  empowered  by  Parliament  to  coin  money  out  of 
the  same  capital,  by  lending  it  again  to  the  public  in  the  form  of  bank 
notes.  It  was  allowed  to  use  these  notes  for  discounting  bills,  making 
advances  on  commodities,  and  for  buying  the  precious  metals.  It  was 
not  long  ere  this  credit  Bank  of  England  made  its  loans  to  the  state, 
and  paid,  on  account  of  the  state,  the  interest  on  the  public  debt.  It 
was  not  enough  that  the  bank  gave  with  one  hand  and  took  back  more 
with  the  other;  it  remained,  even  whilst  receiving  the  eternal  creditor 
of  the  nation  down  to  the  last  shilling  advanced.  Gradually  it  became 
inevitably  the  receptacle  of  the  metallic  hoard  of  the  country,  and  the 
center  of  gravity  of  all  commercial  credit.  What  effect  was  produced 
on  their  contemporaries  by  the  sudden  uprising  of  this  brood  of  banko- 
crats,  financiers,  rentiers,  brokers,  stock  jobbers,  etc.,  is  proved  by  the 
writings  of  that  time."— Marx:  Capital,  pp.  779-80. 

7.  "But  a  time  came  when  the  suction  of  the  usurers  so  wasted  the 
life  of  the  community  that  the  stream  of  bullion  ceased  to  flow  from 
the  capital  (Rome)  to  the  frontiers;  then  as  the  sustaining  force  failed, 
the  line  of  troops  along  the  Danube  and  the  Rhine  was  drawn  out  until 
it  broke,  and  the  barbarians  poured  in  unchecked." — Adams:  Law  of 
Civilization  and  Decay,  p.  46. 

"By  degrees  as  competition  sharpened  after  the  Reformation,  a 
type  was  developed  which,  perhaps,  may  be  called  the  merchant  ad- 
venturer; men  like  Child  and  Boulton,  bold,  energetic,  audacious. 
Gradually  energy  vented  itself  more  and  more  freely  through  these 


CHAP.  XXVI  THE   MONEY   QUESTION  343 

same  manner  as  bank  currency  is  now  based  on  na- 
tional bonds.  It  is  in  effect  the  adoption  by  the  banks 
of  the  proposals  of  the  Populists  with  the  exception 
that  the  circulation  is  to  be  privately  controlled  rather 
than  by  the  public,  and  is  to  be  based  on  debfs  rather 
than  on  property,  but  as  the  debts  are  to  be  secured  by 

merchants,  until  they  became  the  ruling  power  in  England,  their  gov- 
ernment lasting  from  1688  to  1815.  At  length  they  fell  through  the 
very  brilliancy  of  their  genius.  The  wealth  they  amassed  so  rapidly 
accumulated  until  it  prevailed  over  all  other  forms  of  force,  and  by 
so  doing  raised  another  variety  of  man  to  power.  These  last  were  the 
modern  bankers. 

"With  the  advent  of  the  bankers,  a  profound  change  came  over 
civilization,  for  contraction  began.  Self-interest  had  from  the  outset 
taught  the  producer  that  to  prosper  he  should  deal  in  wares  which 
tended  rather  to  rise  than  fall  in  value,  relatively  to  coin.  The  op- 
posite instinct  possessed  the  usurer;  he  found  that  he  grew  rich 
when  money  appreciated,  or  when  the  borrower  had  to  part  with  more 
property  to  pay  his  debt  when  it  fell  due  than  the  cash  lent  him 
would  have  bought  on  the  day  the  obligation  was  contracted.  As  to- 
ward the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  great  hoards  of  London 
passed  into  the  possession  of  men  of  the  latter  type,  the  third  and 
most  redoubtable  variety  of  economic  intellect  arose  to  prominence, 
a  variety  of  which  perhaps  the  most  conspicuous  example  is  the  family 
of  Rothschild.  *  *  During  the  long  [Napoleonic]  wars  Europe  plunged 
into  debt,  contracting  loans  in  depreciated  paper,  or  in  coin  which  was 
unprecedentedly  cheap  because  of  the  abundance  of  the  precious  metals. 

"In  the  year  1809,  prices  reached  the  greatest  altitude  they  ever 
attained  in  modern,  or  even,  perhaps,  in  all  history.  From 

the  year  1810,  nature  has  favored  the  usurious  mind  even  as  she  fa- 
vored it  in  Rome,  from  the  death  of  Augustus. 

"Moreover,  both  in  ancient  and  modern  life,  the  first  symptom 
of  this  profound  economic  and  intellectual  revolution  was  identical. 
Tacitus  has  described  the  panic  which  was  the  immediate  forerunner  of 
the  rise  of  the  precious  metals  in  the  first  century;  and  in  1810  a  sim- 
ilar panic  occurred  in  London,  when  prices  suddenly  fell  fifteen  per  cent, 
and  when  the  most  famous  magnate  of  the  stock  exchange  was  ruined 
and  killed.  *  *  From  that  day  to  this  the  slow  contraction  has 
continued,  with  only  the  break  of  little  more  than  twenty  years,  when 
the  gold  of  California  and  Australia  came  in  an  overwhelming  flood; 
and  from  that  day  to  this  the  same  series  of  phenomena  have  succeeded 
one  another,  which  eighteen  hundred  years  ago  marked  the  emascula- 
tion of  Rome."— Adams :  Law  of  Civilization  and  Decay,  pp.  321-325. 

"Not  less  formidable  is  the  financial  monopoly.  A  certain  sub- 
stance made  into  a  certain  form  and  bearing  a  certain  stamp  is  made 
the  representative  of  its  own  intrinsic  value,  in  any  form  whatever. 
The  existence  of  this  circulating  medium  gives  rise  to  special  enter- 
prises for  the  exchange  of  this  only.  As  wealth  increases  more  rap- 
idly than  money,  and  the  exchange  of  products  becomes  too  great  to  be 
carried  on  with  the  amount  of  the  circulating  medium,  resort  is  had 
to  paper  money,  in  the  nature  of  obligations  to  pay  in  the  recognized 
medium.  These  obligations,  in  the  course  of  time  and  the  demands  and 
vicissitudes  of  trade,  assume  a  thousand  forms,  and  become  loaded  with 


344  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

property  it  is  the  same  thing  in  effect.  The  proposal, 
if  adopted,  would  simply  extend  the  range  within 
which  the  banks  could  control  the  fluctuations  in  prices 
by  alternately  increasing  and  diminishing  the  volume 
of  money  in  existence  and  available  for  business. 

443.  The  Multiple  Standard.— In  order  to  avoid  the 
injury  done  by  such  fluctuations  in  the  value  of  money 
it  has  been  proposed  to  establish,  instead  of  either  the 
single  standard  or  double  standard,  what  is  called 
the  multiple  standard.  This  proposal  is  that  the  aver- 
age price  of  a  large  number  of  articles  in  the  market 
shall  be  depended  on  to  fix  the  volume  of  money,  and 
that  the  government  shall  issue  as  much  money,  or  have 
authority  to  retire  at  any  time,  as  much  money  as  may 
be  necessary  to  maintain  this  standard  of  average 
prices.  If  the  price  of  a  single  article  varies  there 
may  be  some  reason  relating  to  the  methods  of  its  pro- 
duction or  to  the  nature  of  the  season,  or  to  the  de- 
mand for  its  use,  to  account  for  the  change,  but  if  the 
average  price  of  a  large  number  of  the  articles  most 
in  use  varies  in  a  free  market,  this  can  be  accounted  for 
only  by  too  much  or  too  little  money.  In  this  way  it 
has  been  thought  that  a  sufficient  basis  could  be  found 
for  the  effective  guidance  of  congress  in  their  re- 
sponsible control  of  the  volume  of  money.8 

infinite  complexities,  giving  extent  and  importance  to  financial  enter- 
prise. 

"It  would  be  marvelous  if  those  who  became  initiated  into  all 
the  mysteries  of  financial  manipulation  did  not  learn  with  the  rest  how 
to  absorb  a  large  amount  of  these  various  representations  of  value.  No 
field  of  speculation  offers  such  temptations,  and,  while  a  lack  of  tact 
and  cunning  is  sure  to  be  attended  with  ruin,  the  successful  are  loaded 
with  wealth.  Such  a  field  is  never  without  its  organized  monopolists, 
who  do  nothing  but  watch  their  chances  to  sweep  down  upon  the  fruits 
of  human  toil  and  with  a  stroke  of  the  pen  brush  into  their  money 
drawers  the  patient  labor  of  years.  Though  a  somewhat  hazardous  one, 
speculation  in  paper  obligations  is  an  extensive  business,  a  successful 
mode  of  acquisition,  and  a  dangerous  monopoly." — Ward:  Dynamic  So- 
ciology, Vol.  L,  pp.  592-3. 

8.  "It  appears  to  be  a  natural  law  that  when  social  development 
has  reached  a  certain  stage,  and  capital  has  accumulated  sufficiently, 


CHAP.  XXVI  THE   MONEY   QUESTION  345 

It  is  evident  that  under  such  an  arrangement  the 
relation  of  the  volume  of  money  to  average  prices  could 
be  controlled,  but  it  is  equally  evident  that  the  average 
prices  themselves  could  be  seriously  affected  by  the 
action  of  the  trusts  which  control  so  large  a  number  of 
the  leading  articles  of  the  market. 

444.  Summary.— Part  I.— No  Solution  Under  Cap- 
italism.—It  is  contended,  then,  that  under  capitalism 
there  is  no  possible  solution  of  the  money  question,  and 
this  for  the  following  reasons:9 

1.  A  national  paper* currency  would  be  absolutely 
arbitrary  in  its  relation  to  exchange  and  would  de- 
pend on  congress  to  fix  its  volume,  and  hence  its  value, 
without  any  possible  means  of  otherwise  maintaining 
a  stability  of  average  prices.     An  act  cjf  congress 
changing  the  volume  of  money,  at  any  time,  would 
change  average  prices.    Every  variation  in  average 
prices  is  an  injury  to  someone. 

2.  The  cost  of  producing  gold  and  silver,  either 
or  both  of  them,  varies  from  time  to  time  and  the  vol- 
ume of  gold  and  silver  as  related  to  the  volume  of  busi- 
ness is  constantly  changing,  and  each  such  change  af- 
fects average  prices.  Every  variation  in  average  prices 
in  an  injury  to  someone. 

3.  The  hoarding  of  gold  changes  the  volume  of 
money  as  related  to  the  volume  of  business,  to  the  bene- 
fit of  the  creditors,  just  as  the  coming  of  new  gold 
from  the  gold  fields  tends  to  the  debtors'  relief.    There 
is  no  way  by  which  the  volume  of  the  new  gold  can  be 
fixed.    It  depends  on  the  fortune  of  the  mines.    There 

the  class  which  has  had  the  capacity  to  absorb  it  shall  try  to  enhance 
the  value  of  their  property  by  legislation." — Adams:  Law  of  Civiliza- 
tion and  Decay,  p.  29. 

9.  "The  pursuit  of  an  ideal  money  which  is  unchangeable  in  its 
relations  to  other  things  is  as  idle  as  the  search  for  the  philosopher's 
stone,  or  the  attempt  to  find  a  fixed  point  in  the  solar  system." — 
Charles  A.  Conant,  in  Journal  of  Political  Economy,  June,  1903,  p.  414. 


346  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

is  no  way  by  which  to  prevent  the  hoarding  of  gold, 
both  new  and  old.  It  depends  at  one  time  on  the  fears 
and  at  another  time  on  the  rascality  of  those  who  have 
it.  Every  change  in  the  volume  of  money  as  related  to 
the  volume  of  business  affects  average  prices.  Every1 
variation  in  average  prices  is  an  injury  to  someone.  ( 

4.  Bank  currency,  authorized  by  law,  whether  se- 
cured by  national  bonds  or  any  other  kind  of  assets, 
simply  places  the  business  of  the  country  in  the  hands 
and  at  the  mercy  of  a  private  corporation.    The  man- 
agement of  such  a  corporation  would  have  to  be  more 
thoroughly  disinterested  than  any  like  group  of  men 
the  world  has  yet  known  or  they  would  use  their  power 
to  manipulate  the  volume  of  money  expressly  for  the 
purpose  of  affecting  average  prices.    Every  change  in 
average  prices  which  would  thus  be  brought  about 
would  be  to  the  injury  of  the  industrial  world  for  the 
further  profit  of  its  money  masters. 

5.  The  multiple  standard  would  be  no  solution  of 
the  money  question.     The  theory  is  mathematically 
faultless.   It  depends  for  its  effectiveness  upon  an  aver- 
age of  prices  created  and  continued,  in  a  free  market, 
by  dealers  engaged  in  an  effective  competition  with 
each  other.   There  is  no  such  market,  and  unless  human 
life  is  to  be  simply  a  horse  race,  managed  solely  to  see 
which  one  can  get  ahead  of  all  the  rest,  no  such  mar- 
ket is  to  be  desired.    Under  the  market  as  it  is  and  as 
it  is  likely  to  remain,  even  with  the  multiple  standard 
in  force,  if  that  were  possible,  the  prices  of  trust-con- 
trolled articles  could  be  continuously  changed,  arbi- 
trarily and  without  reason.    Every  such  change  would 
affect  the  average  of  prices,  and  under  the  multiple 
standard  the  volume  of  money,  and  so  again  the  prices 
of  articles  not  in  the  trust  would  fluctuate  by  the  action 
of  the  trust  and  the  power  of  the  trust  not  only  to  arbi- 
trarily advance  its  own  prices,  but,  through  controlling 


CHAP.  XXVI  THE   MONEY   QUESTION  347 

the  money,  disastrously  to  affect  the  prices  of  articles 
of  trade  not  otherwise  subject  to  trust  control,  and 
hence,  would  defeat  the  purposes  of  the  multiple  stand- 
ard. 

And,  therefore,  there  is  no  solution  of  the  money  ques- 
tion under  capitalism  which  does  not  leave  the  power 
of  money  in  the  hands  of  those  who  gamble  with  loaded 
dice  and  whose  stakes  involve  the  welfare  of  the  world. 

445.  Summary.— Part  II.— Socialism  Will  End  the 
Controversy.— On  the  other  hand  it  is  contended  that 
Socialism  will  abolish  exchange  for  profits  and  will 
dispose  of  the  use  of  money  of  intrinsic  value  and  sub- 
ject to  private  manipulation  as  an  essential  in  ex- 
change, and  so  make  an  end  of  the  money  question  by 
providing  a  way  by  which  each  may  exchange  his  own 
labor  power  for  the  products  of  all  others,  practically 
on  a  basis  of  exact  and  equal  justice  to  all,  and  this  for 
the  following  reasons: 

1.  Under  capitalism  one's  ability  to  get  things  out 
of  the  market  depends  on  his  possession  of  money, 
which  is  always  an  uncertain  and  imperfect  record  of 
someone,  somewhere,  some  time,  having  put  something 
into  some  market.  Under  Socialism  the  record  on 
which  one  will  depend  for  his  power  to  draw  things 
from  the  public  stores  will  be  definite  and  certain.  It 
has  been  seen  that  the  real  thing  exchanged  is  labor 
power,  and  under  Socialism  the  record  of  labor  power 
expended  will  be  direct,  simple  and  certain.  No  one 
can  predict  what  the  details  of  the  distribution  of  the 
future  will  be,  but  it  does  not  matter  whether  labor 
certificates,  pass  books,  or  whatever  the  device  may  be 
by  which  the  credits  for  labor  will  be  made  available 
for  daily  use.  The  money  now  in  existence  could  be  so 
used.  But  whatever  is  used  the  certificates  or  the  dol- 
lars will  come  into  circulation  because  of  the  perform- 
ance of  labor;  they  will  go  out  of  circulation  by  being 


348  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

surrendered  for  goods  to  be  used.  They  will  make  a 
record  of  production  in  one  instance  and  of  consump- 
tion in  the  other.  Their  volume  will  depend  on  the 
labor  performed,  and  the  extent  of  their  claims  will 
always  be  limited  by  the  goods  actually  in  store.  These 
goods  can  be  obtained  only  on  account  of  labor  per- 
formed, or  because  of  childhood  or  old  age  or  disabil- 
ity, so  that  the  receiver  of  them  will  always  be  an  im- 
mediate producer  or  a  social  charge,  and  not  a  social 
parasite. 

2.  As  the  total  labor  of  all  will  be  the  sole  claim- 
ant against  all  of  the  products  of  all  of  the  workers, 
the  only  measure  of  value,  that  is  of  power  in  the  mar- 
ket, will  be  labor  itself.    If  things  have  any  power  to 
exchange  themselves  for  other  things,  it  would  neces- 
sarily be  at  the  cost  in  labor  of  producing  the  other 
things,  for  when  the  cost  in  labor  could  procure  the 
other  things  by  surrendering  certificates  of  labor  for 
them,  none  would  exchange  their  goods  at  any  other 
rate  than  the  general  average  of  the  labor  cost  of  pro- 
ducing them.    The  only  power  over  the  things  in  the 
market  would  be  the  labor  which  put  them  there.  Then, 
as  now,  only  the  expenditure  of  human  life  can  put 
things  into  the  market.    Then,  but  not  as  now,  only 
those  who  put  some  share  of  their  lives  into  filling  the 
market  could  have  any  share  in  emptying  it.     Only 
those  who  gave  something  of  life  in  the  creation  of 
goods  could  secure  something  of  life  in  the  form  of 
goods. 

3.  Under  Socialism  there  will  be  no  need  of  loans 
for  the  purchase  of  productive  plants.    They  will  be 
owned  in  abundance  by  society  for  the  free  use  of  the 
whole  body  of  its  workers.    There  will  be  no  need  of 
loans  for  the  purchase   of  goods   for  private  stores. 
There  will  be  no  demand  for  private  stores.    There  will 
be  no  occasion  for  personal  loans.     The  able-bodied 


CHAP.  XXVI  THE    MONEY    QUESTION  319 

will  always  have  employment  and  the  disabled  will  al- 
ways be  provided  for.  The  whole  credit  system  of  cap- 
italism will  go  at  once  on  the  coming  of  Socialism.  As 
there  will  be  no  deferred  payments,  no  standard  for  the 
settlement  of  deferred  payments  will  be  necessary. 

4.  The  only  thing  which  can  in  any  way  compare 
with  our  credit  system  will  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the 
credits  of  the  workers  will  accumulate  from  day  to 
day,  but  while  society  stores  the  goods  which  will  be 
produced  by  the  labor  which  earns  these  credits  it  will 
not  be  a  borrower  of  them,  and  when  these  workers  come 
to  the  public  stores  to  exchange  these  credits  for  the 
articles  of  their  choice,  it  will  not  be  to  make  a  pur- 
chase, in  the  present  sense  of  that  term,  but  simply  to 
withdraw  from  storage,  values  which  are  already  theirs. 
To  purchase  is  to  give  one  thing  of  value  in  exchange 
for  another  thing  of  value.    Under  Socialism  whatever 
forms  of  credit  a  worker  may  have  will  simply  certify 
to  his  share  of  the  goods  in  store.    He  will  not  go  there 
to  purchase  what  belongs  to  another.    He  will  go  to 
withdraw  what  is  already  his  own. 

5.  So  it  is  seen  that  under  Socialism  neither  the 
votes  of  congress,  nor  the  fortunes  of  mines,  nor  pri- 
vate hoarding,  nor  a  trust-ruled  market  can,  through 
the  power  of  money,  disastrously  affect  the  process  by 
which  the  products  of  all,  which  embody  something  of 
the  expended  life  of  all,  shall  always  be  within  the 
reach  of  all.    Banks,  banking,  loans,  discounts,  bonds, 
contracts,  the  breach  of  contracts,  brokers,  promoters, 
mortgages,     foreclosures,     evictions,     embezzlements, 
bankruptcies,  bulls,  bears  and  corners  will  all  go  to 
the  economic  junk  heap  along  with  horse  cars,  stage 
coaches,  flint-lock  muskets  and  the  rest  of  the  outgrown 
equipment  of  a  growing  world.10 

10.    "The  civilized  governments  of  the  present  day  are  resting  under 
a  burden  of  indebtedness  computed  at  $27,000,000,000.    This  sum,  which 


350  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  According  to  the  economists,  what  are  the  functions  of  money? 

2.  What  was  the  origin  of  money  ?    Name  some  of  the  things  which 
have  been  used  as  money. 

3.  What  qualities  ought  any  article  to  possess  if  it  is  to  be  used 
as  money?     Why  did  silver  and  gold  finally  come  to  be  the  money 
metals  ? 

4.  What  is  meant  by  a  medium  of  exchange?     Why  is  such  a 
medium  necessary? 

5.  What  is  meant  by  a  measure  of  value  ?    How  can  money  be  used 
to  measure  the  value  of  any  given  article? 

6.  What  is  meant  by  value — use  value  and  price  as  used  by  the 
economists  ? 

7.  What  is  the  one  thing  which  all  things  have  in  common  as  re- 
lated to  the  power  which  they  have  to  exchange  for  each  other  in  the 
market  ? 

8.  How  can  the  value  of  money  be  determined? 

9.  What  is  meant  by  a  standard  for  the  settlement  of  deferred  pay- 
ments ? 

10.  Explain  why  a  change  in  the  value  of  money  must  injure  either 
the  creditor  or  the  debtor.    Why  are  the  debtors  and  creditors  always 
on  opposite  sides  in  all  disputes  which  involve  the  value  of  money? 

11.  Give  the  general  law  of  supply  and  demand  as  related  to  money. 
What  about  the  proposal  for  paper  money?    What  are  the  possibilities 
of  its  abuse?     Could  congress  use  its  power  to  control  the  volume  of 
money,  made  on  paper,  to  the  injury  of  the  debtors? 

12.  Explain  the  multiple  standard. 

13.  Prove  that  there  is  no  solution  for  the  money  question  under 
the  wage  system,  mentioning  paper  money,  gold,  bank  notes  and  the 
multiple  standard. 

14.  Prove   that   Socialism   would   dispose   of   the   money   question, 
mentioning  the  medium  of  exchange,  the   measure  of  value   and  the 
standard  for  the  settlement  of  deferred  payments  under  Socialism. 

does  not  include  local  obligations  of  any  sort,  constitutes  a  mortgage  of 
$722  upon  each  square  mile  of  territory  over  which  the  burdened  gov- 
ernments extend  their  jurisdiction,  and  shows  a  per  capita  indebtedness 
of  $23  upon  their  subjects.     The  total  amount  of  national  obligations 
is  equal  to  seven  times  the  aggregate  annual  revenue  of  the  indebted 
states:    At  the  liberal  estimate  of  $1.50  per  day,  the  payment  of  accru- 
ing interest,  computed  at  5  per  cent,  would  demand  the  continuous  labor 
of  three  millions  of  men.     Should  the  people  of  the  United  States  con- 
tract to  pay  the  principal  of  the  world's  debt,  their  engagement  would 
call  for  the  appropriation  of  a  sum  equal  to  the  total  gross  product  of 
.their  industry  for  three  years;  or,  if  annual  profits  alone  were  devoted 
,  to  this  purpose,  they  would  be  enslaved  by  their  contract  for  the  greater 
'  part  of  a  generation.  * 

"But  it  is  not  alone  the  magnitude  of  this  constant  drain  upon  the 
product  of  current  industry  that  invites  our  attention  to  a  study  of  pub- 
lic debts;  their  recent  appearance  suggests  many  questions  of  equal 
importance.  Previous  to  the  present  century,  England  and  Holland 
were  the  only  countries  that  had  learned  by  experience  the  weight  of 
national  obligations;  but  at  the  present  time  the  phenomenon  of  public 
debts  is  almost  universal,  and  there  are  many  peoples  that  rival  Eng- 
land in  the  taxes  paid  for  their  support." — Adams :  Public  Debts,  pp.  3-4. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

THEORIES    OF    POPULATION 

446.  The  Law  of  Increase.— The  whole  number  of 
the  children  all  the  time  exceeds  the  whole  number  of 
the  parents,  and  so  in  each  generation  the  population 
continues  to  multiply.1    Plants  and  animals  of  all  kinds 
are  sprouted  or  are  begotten  in  such  numbers  that  if 
all  which  make  a  beginning  in  life  were  to  continue  to 
live  and  to  bring  forth  after  their  kind,  it  would  very 
soon  occur  that  the  world  could  not  contain  them.    The 
reason  why  this  does  not  happen  is  because  the  animals 
are  not  permitted  by  each  other  or  by  exposure  or  acci- 
dent to  so  come  to  maturity  and  bring  forth  each  ' i  after 
its  own  kind/'    But  if  any  particular  animal  should 
be  given  the  exclusive  occupancy  of  the  whole  earth, 
though  it  were  the  slowest  breeder  known,  it  alone  in 
the  course  of  time  would  so  cover  the  earth 's  surface 
that  there  would  be  the  same  struggle  for  the  chance 
for  some  portion  of  them  to  live  by  the  destruction 
of  the  rest.2 

447.  The  Struggle  to  Exist.— All  animals,  including 
man,  so  say  the  capitalists,  struggle  for  existence,  and 

1.  Darwin:     Descent  of  Man,  p.  62. 

2.  Darwin:    Descent  of  Man,  p.  62. 

351 


352  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

must  do  so  whether  they  like  it  or  not,  and  they  further 
say  that  to  refuse  to  struggle  for  the  survival  of 
a  part  is,  as  a  final  result,  to  encounter  starvation  as 
the  end  of  all.  Thus  the  capitalists  make  man's  strug- 
gle for  existence  not  only,  nor  mainly,  a  struggle  with 
hunger  and  exposure  and  the  other  conditions  and 
forces  of  nature,  but  also,  and  mainly,  and  necessarily, 
a  struggle  between  man  and  man  for  an  opportunity  to 
get  a  chance  to  struggle  with  the  forces  of  nature. 

Moreover,  it  is  explained  that  war,  pestilence,  fam- 
ine, hunger,  disease,  poverty,  the  distress  of  the  chil- 
dren of  the  poor,  the  countless  burials  of  infancy,  are 
only  in  the  line  of  the  common  lot  of  all  life,  and  that 
while  it  does  make  hard  the  lot  Of  the  many,  it  is  the 
only  means  of  exterminating  such  a  portion  of  the  race 
that  the  remainder  may  survive.3 

448.  Limited  Powers  of  Production.— On  the  other 
hand,  on  any  given  tract  of  land,  a  given  amount  of 
labor  being  expended  with  the  result  of  a  given  pro- 
duct, it  may  be  said  that  if  the  amount  of  labor  in- 
creased the  amount  of  the  product  would  also  increase. 
It  is  evident,  however,  that  the  natural  limit  to  the 
productive  powers  of  the  soil  would  establish  a  point 
beyond  which  the  further  employment  of  labor  would 
not  so  increase  the  product  as  to  reward  the  larger 
amount  of  labor  at  the  same  or  a  higher  rate  than 
was  secured  by  the  smaller  amount  of  labor. 

449.  " Increasing"  and  "Diminishing  Returns. "- 
If  a  given  tract  of  land  with  one  hundred  days  of  labor 
should  produce  one  thousand  bushels  of  any  given 
grain,  it  might  be  that  with  a  hundred  and  fifty  days 
of  labor  it  would  produce  two  thousand  bushels.    In 
this  case  the  one  hundred  days  were  rewarded  with  ten 
bushels  for  each  day  of  labor.    But  the  one  hundred 
and  fifty  days  were  rewarded  with  thirteen  and  a  third 

.3.    Walker:     Political  Economy,  pp.  308-309. 


CHAP.  XXVII          THEORIES   OF    POPULATION  353 

bushels  for  each  day  of  labor.  Now  if  the  labor  were 
increased  to  two  hundred  days  and  the  product  were 
increased  to  only  two  thousand  one  hundred  bushels, 
then  the  rate  of  reward  for  each  day  of  labor  would 
fall  to  ten  and  a  half  bushels;  that  is,  the  total  harvest 
would  be  increased,  but  the  rate  of  reward  for  each  day's 
labor  would  be  diminished. 

"Land  may  be  undercultivated  and  then  extra  cap- 
ital and  labor  will  give  an  *  increasing  return'  until  a 
maximum  rate  has  been  reached,  after  which  it  will 
diminish  again."4 

That  is,  it  is  seen  that  here  are  two  important  eco- 
nomic laws:  First,  the  law  of  "increasing"  returns 
according  to  which,  up  to  a  certain  point,  the  rate  of 
reward  of  labor  upon  any  given  tract  of  land  increases 
when  additional  applications  of  labor  are  made;  sec- 
ond, the  law  of  "diminishing  returns,"  in  accordance 
with  which,  beyond  a  certain  point,  the  rate  of  reward 
from  a  given  tract  of  land  decreases  when  additional 
labor  is  applied. 

It  is  evident  that  with  additional  land,  as  well  as 
labor,  the  reward  for  the  additional  labor  is  not  only 
as  great  as  in  the  smaller  undertakings  but  that  the 
same  increased  advantages  result  from  large  combina- 
tions of  machinery,  organization,  and  scientific  meth- 
ods of  production  in  agriculture  as  in  every  other  field 
of  endeavor. 

This  position  has  been  recently  disputed  as  applied 
to  agriculture.  That  is,  it  is  claimed  that  the  benefits 
of  organization  as  applied  to  larger  enterprises  cannot 
hold  in  the  case  of  agriculture.  But  the  most  recent 
development  in  connection  with  the  great  farms  about 
which  this  controversy  has  been  carried  on  is  that  in 
the  great  wheat  fields  of  the  Sacramento  Valley  farm- 

4.    Marshall:     Principles  of  Economics,  p.  227. 


354  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

ers  are  combining  their  thousand-acre  farms  into  larger 
tracts  for  cultivation,  maintaining  private  ownership 
to  the  various  sections  of  these  larger  tracts,  but  com- 
bining in  order  that  they  may  have  the  advantage  of 
the  great  machinery  as  applied  to  agriculture,  which 
machinery  has  been  greatly  enlarged  in  the  last  half 
dozen  years.  So  that  in  agriculture,  as  in  other  lines 
of  production,  machinery,  organization  and  scientific 
methods  of  production  with  increased  land  and  in- 
creased labor,  and  under  a  single  management,  in- 
volves "increasing"  and  not  "diminishing  returns." 

In  manufactures  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  dimin- 
ishing reward  for  additional  days  of  labor,  but  the  re- 
verse is  true.  The  larger  the  enterprise,  the  larger  the 
product  for  each  day  of  labor  so  employed.  If  it  were 
making  cloth  instead  of  raising  grain,  and  a  given  ap- 
plication of  labor  had  produced  one  thousand  yards, 
ten  times  the  labor  would  not  only  produce  ten  times 
as  many  yards,  but  more  than  ten  times  as  many  yards. 
The  law  is  one  of  "increasing"  rather  than  "diminish- 
ing returns." 

Of  course  this  would  not  hold  if  production  were 
attempted  in  excess  of  the  supply  of  raw  material,  for 
in  manufactures  as  well  as  in  agriculture  the  ultimate 
dependence  is  on  the  earth  itself.  In  both  agriculture 
and  manufactures,  the  law  is  one  of  "increasing  re- 
turns" for  each  additional  day  of  labor  so  far  as  af- 
fected by  the  organization  and  equipment  of  labor.  In 
neither  agriculture  nor  manufactures  can  a  single 
small  tract  of  land  be  depended  on  to  provide  the  na- 
tural resources  for  the  sustenance  of  all  the  earth.  But 
in  agriculture  the  fact  that  additional  labor  cannot  be 
employed  to  the  same  advantage  on  the  same  acres  of 
land  is  of  no  consequence  so  long  as  there  are  addi- 
tional acres.  And  in  manufactures,  the  fact  that  when 
the  raw  materials  of  the  earth  have  been  exhausted  for 


CHAP.  XXVII          THEORIES    OF    POPULATION  355 

any  given  year,  that  the  manufacture  would  thereafter 
be  impossible,  and  the  fact  that  as  the  consumption  o2 
raw  materials  approaches  the  limit  of  supply,  pro- 
duction would  decrease  in  the  volume  of  products  as 
compared  to  the  amount  of  labor,  are  of  no  conse- 
quence, so  long  as  raw  materials  are  abundant. 

450.  When  the  Last  Acre  Is  in  Use.— For  the  last 
hundred  years  there  has  been  an  enormous  increase 
in  the  population  of  the  earth,  but  the  increase  in  pro- 
duction has  been  many  times  faster  than  the  increase 
of  population.    But  the  increase  of  production  has  in- 
volved an  increase  of  the  number  of  acres  of  land  in 
use.    That  cannot  go  on  forever.    The  limit  of  the  new 
available  soil  is  even  now  in  sight.    There  are  new  con- 
tinents to  bring  into  complete  use,  but  there  are  no 
more  new  continents  to  discover.     Will  the  popula- 
tion some  day  bring  into  use  the  last  available  acre  of 
land  and  then  the  population  continue  to  multiply,  and 
so  exceed  the  power  of  the  earth  each  year  to  provide 
food  and  the  raw  materials  for  the  support  of  the 
people  f 

451.  In  the  Year  of  2400.— On  this  point  Professor 
Alfred  Marshall  says  :5  ' i  Taking  the  present  population 
of  the  world  at  one  and  a  half  thousand  millions;  and 
assuming  that  its  present  rate  of  increase  (about  8  per 
thousand  annually;  see  Ravenstein's  paper  before  the 
British  Association  in  1890)  will  continue,  we  find  that 
in  less  than  two  hundred  years  it  will  amount  to  six 
thousand  millions;  or  at  the  rate  of  about  200  to  the 
square  mile  of  fairly  fertile  land  (Ravenstein  reckons 
28  million  square  miles  of  fairly  fertile  land,  and  14 
millions  of  poor  grass  lands.     The  first  estimate  is 
thought  by  many  to  be  too  high;  but  allowing  for  this, 
if  the  less  fertile  land  be  reckoned  in  for  what  it  is 

5.    Marshall:    Principles  of  Economics,  p.  257. 


356  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

worth,  the  result  will  be  about  thirty  million  square 
miles  as  assumed  above).  Meanwhile  there  will  prob- 
ably be  great  improvements  in  the  arts  of  agriculture; 
and,  if  so,  the  pressure  of  population  on  the  means  of 
subsistence  may  not  be  much  felt  even  in  two  hundred 
years.  But  if  the  same  rate  of  increase  be  continued 
till  the  year  2400,  the  population  will  then  be  1,000  for 
every  mile  of  fairly  fertile  land,  and,  so  far  as  we  can 
see  now,  the  diet  of  such  a  population  must  needs  be 
in  the  main  vegetarian. ' ' 

452.  The  Gloomiest  Page  in  Economics.— Here  is 
the  gloomiest  page  in  political  economy,  for  the  capital- 
istic economists  assure  us  that  this  very  thing  is  to 
happen  in  the  natural  order  of  things,  and  on  this  as- 
surance have  been  based  the  most  brutal  proposals  ever 
offered  to  mankind.6 

Here  is  the  question  which  we  are  considering:  Is 
such  a  crisis  likely  to  occur?  If  so,  would  capitalism 
or  Socialism  be  better  able  to  longest  postpone  its 
coming  and  be  better  able  to  deal  with  such  a  situation 
when  it  could  no  longer  be  averted? 

453.  An  Old  Problem.— It  is  admitted,  then,  that 
there  is  a  natural  and  necessary  limit  to  the  productive 
powers  of  the  soil,  and  that  there  is  no  such  natural 
and  necessary  limit  to  the  capacity  for  increasing  the 
numbers  of  the  people.    This  is  an  old  problem  debated 
by  Plato  and  Aristotle.    Laws  for  limiting  or  increas- 
ing the  population  have  been  frequently  enacted  by 
both  ancient  and  modern  nations.    Wars  have  been  fol- 
lowed with  the  offering  of  premiums  for  large  families, 
and  restrictions  as  to  marriage  have  been  suggested,  if 
not  enforced,  when  overpopulation  has  been  threat- 
ened.    In  the  lower  stages  of  society  "the  ruthless 
slaughter  of  the  infirm  and  aged,  and  sometimes  of  a 

6.    Walker:     Political  Economy,  Book  III.,  Chapters  I.  and  II. 


CHAP.  XXVII          THEORIES   OF    POPULATION  357 

certain  proportion  of  the  female  children,  has  been  re- 
sorted to  in  order  to  limit  the  population. '  '7 

454.  Absurd  Proposals  to  Limit  Population.— Those 
who  have  believed  the  final  over-population  of  the 
world  to  be  probable  have  made  the  following  sugges- 
tions regarding  the  best  way  to  keep  the  population 
within  the  limit  of  subsistence: 

(1)  It  has  been  suggested  by  them  to  forbid"  the 
marriage  of  the  poor.8 

(2)  John  Stuart  Mill  proposed  to  so  train  the  poor 
in  the  necessity  of    making  the    population    scarce, 
in  order  to  make  wages  high,  as  to  induce  such  an  inter- 
est in  self-control  on  the  part  of  the  married  poor  as 
to  limit  the  size  of  the  poor  man's  family.9 

(3)  Annie  Besant  some  years  ago  inaugurated  a 
campaign  in  England  for  the  purpose  of  so  enlighten- 
ing women  regarding  the  physical  operation  of  the 
child-bearing  functions  as  to  enable  the  mothers  to  pre- 
vent the  conception  of  undesired  children.    Her  cam- 
paign was  denounced  as  wicked  and  indecent,  and  per- 
sons were  imprisoned  in  this  country  for  circulating 
books  on  this  subject.    But  the  capitalist  saviors  of  so- 
ciety were  placed  in  the  awkward  position  of  contend- 
ing in  one  breath  that  so  many  were  born  that  some 
must  starve,  and  in  the  next  punishing  as  an  offense  the 
only  serious  and  outright  effort  to  prevent  the  coming 
of  more  than  could  be  provided  for,  as  if  to  prevent  the 
coming  was  a  crime,  while  to  insist  on  their  coming 
into  conditions  where  all  must  suffer  and  many  starve 
was  a  civic  virtue. 

455.  A  Knowledge  of  Natural  Causes.— Those  who 

7.  Marshall:    Principles  of  Economics,  Book  IV.,  Chapter  IV.,  p. 
251. 

8.  "The  real  labor  problem  is  to  be  found  in  the 
discovery  of  the  means  by  which  the  lowest  classes  can  be  restrained  in 
numbers." — Laughlin,  Head  Professor  of  Economics,  University  of  Chi- 
cago:    Political  Economy,  p.  347. 

9.  Mill :     Political  Economy,  p.  347. 


358  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

have  denied  the  probability  of  the  coming  of  such  a 
crisis  in  the  world's  life  as  would  result  in  the  popula- 
tion having  outgrown  the  possible  means  of  subsist- 
ence have  done  so  on  the  following  grounds: 

(1)  They  have  pointed  out  the  undisputed  fact 
that  while  the  new-born  among  animals  are  largely  in 
excess  of  the  number  which  come  to  maturity,  it  is  also 
true'  that  this  excess  of  births  as  related  to  the  number 
which  mature  constantly  decreases  as  the  grade  of  life 
advances  towards  man.10 

(2)  Among  all  animals,  including  men,  as  the  grade 
of  any  individual  animal  approaches  perfection  of  its 
kind,  the  tendency  to  reproduce  correspondingly  de- 
creases.11 

(3)  Whenever  an  animal  is  most  poorly  fed  or  most 
injuriously  exposed,  that  is,  as  anxiety  for  its  own  ex- 
istence increases,  the  action  of  the  reproductive  forces 
is  correspondingly  quickened.12 

(4)  A  very  large  percentage  of  the  children  born 
are  a  result  of  the  ignorance  of  the  parents  regarding 
their  own  reproductive  functions,  and  ignorance  re- 
garding so  important  a  matter  cannot  always  be  count- 
ed on  to  overcrowd  the  world  with  children  not  desired 
by  the  very  people  who  are  responsible  for  their  com- 
ing.13 

456.  Over-Population  Unnecessary.— And,  there- 
fore, it  is  contended  that  (1)  if  the  people  were  enlight- 
ened so  that  the  undesired  child  need  not  come;  (2)  if 
they  were  more  fully  developed  both  physically  and 
mentally,  so  that  the  tendency  toward  a  slower  repro- 
duction on  the  part  of  a  more  perfectly  developed  man 
might  be  realized  for  all  and  (3)  if  poverty,  distress, 
exposure,  and  the  fear  of  these  were  taken  out  of  the 

10.  Ferri:    Socialism  and  Modern  Science,  pp.  35-37. 

11.  Ferri:     Socialism  and  Modern  Science,  pp.  35-37. 

12.  Walker:     Political  Economy,  p.  310. 

13.  Walker:     Political  Economy,  p.  317, 


CHAP.  XXVII          THEORIES    OF    POPULATION  359 

problem  of  life,  so  that  conceptions  resulting  from  the 
lack  of  the  proper  physical  condition  of  comfort  for 
the  mothers  might  cease,  then  it  is  claimed  there  would 
be  no  ground  to  fear  that  population  would  ever  ex- 
ceed the  limit  of  subsistence. 

457.  Safe  Conditions  Impossible  Under  Capitalism. 
—Let  it  be  admitted  for  the  sake  of  argument  that  so- 
ciety is  sure  to  reach  at  some  time  in  the  future  a  con- 
dition under  which  the  population  will  approach  the 
uttermost  limit  of  subsistence.    If  so,  capitalism  will 
be  entirely  incapable  of  solving  the  problem  of  the 
means  of  support,  and  this  is  held  for  the  following 
reasons: 

458.  Forbidding  the  Poor  to  Marry.— (1)    To  for- 
bid the  marriage  of  the  poor  will  not  avail.    The  sex 
relation  is  one  so  natural  and  so  vital  to  the  character 
and  welfare  of  man  that  laws  forbidding  wedlock  have 
never  been,  never  ought  to  be,  and  never  can  be  made 
effective  in  preventing  the  union  of  those  forbidden  to 
marry. 

Christian  missionaries  in  countries  of  different  re- 
ligions and  their  converts  who  are  forbidden  to  marry, 
except  under  conditions  to  which  they  are  unwilling 
to  assent,  cohabit  together  and  maintain  all  the  rela- 
tions of  the  family  life  without  marriage,  according 
to  the  laws  of  those  countries.  The  marriages  are 
celebrated  in  keeping  with  the  usages  of  the  countries 
from  which  the  missionaries  have  come,  but  regardless 
of  the  laws  of  the  countries  where  they  reside.  It 
would  be  absurd  to  expect  poor  people  under  similar 
conditions  to  act  in  any  other  manner.  If  the  poor 
should  cohabit  in  spite  of  such  a  law  they  would  be 
worthily  following  the  example  of  worthy  people  who 
are  right  in  contending  that  no  law  can  be  binding 
which  forbids  a  relationship  so  natural  to  man  and  so 
necessary  to  the  fulfillment  of  the  purpose  and  meaning 


360  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

of  his  existence.  It  might  be  further  said  that  the  fu- 
ture character  of  the  race  would  be  better  served  by 
cutting  off  from  the  bearing  of  offspring  those  most 
subject  to  the  diseases  and  vices  of  the  rich,  rather 
than  the  sturdy,  though  helpless  poor.14 

459.  Genius  and  the  Poor.— (2)    The  successful  en- 
forcement of  a  law  forbidding  the  marriage  of  the  poor 
in  the  past  would  have  robbed  the  world  of  a  great  ma- 
jority of  its  most  useful  people.     Moses  in  religion, 
Michael  Angelo  in  art,  Edison  in  science,  Shakespeare 
in  literature,  Hamilton,  Webster  and  Lincoln  in  Ameri- 
can politics,  are  only  examples  of  the  limitless  list  of 
strong  men  who  have  been  given  to  the  world  by  the 
families  of  the  poor.    A  solution  of  the  problem  of  pop- 
ulation which  would  rob  the  world  of  so  large  a  propor- 
tion of  its  genius  would  only  add  to  the  misfortune 
of  the  situation  rather  than  solve  the  problem. 

460.  Giving  the  World  to  the  Backward  Races.—  (3) 
The  enlightenment  of  self-control  proposed  by  Mr.  Mill 
must  be  made  universal  in  order  to  be  made  effect- 
ive.   If  not  made  universal  the  result  would  be  to  limit 
the  number  of  the  most  advanced  peoples  and  to  give 
the  earth  to  the  most  ignorant  and  backward  races. 
But  such  an  enlightenment  and  such  self-control  can 

14.  "Another  group  of  persons  who  have  no  calling  is  formed  at 
the  upper  fringe  of  society.  I  mean  the  professional  idlers  who  live  on 
their  interest  and  absolve  themselves  of  the  duty  of  having  a  calling. 
Looked  at  from  the  outside,  their  manner  of  life  differs  from  that  of  the 
other  class;  seen  from  within,  however,  it  shows  many  points  of  re- 
semblance. Besides,  these  two  classes  come  into  personal  contact  with 
each  other;  they  meet  in  the  demi  monde  and  among  the  gambling  fra- 
ternity. Both  congregate  in  large  cities,  both  have  perfectly  perverse 
notions  of  honor,  both,  above  all,  are  restless  in  disposition  and  unsettled 
in  their  movements.  Just  as  a  ship  without  a  cargo  is  aimlessly  tossed 
about  by  the  wind  and  the  waves,  so  the  life  of  the  rich  idler  is  the  play- 
thing of  every  whim  or  mood  that  happens  to  strike  him."  *  *  *  * 
— --Paulson:  A  System  of  Ethics,  pp.  530-31. 

"The  more  a  man  leads  an  intellectual  life,  the  less  powerful  does 
the  animal  nature  become  in  him.  The  majority  of  great  men  have 
left  no  posterity. 

"The  progress  of  enlightenment  and  comfort  is  therefore  the  best 
antidote  against  a  too  great  increase  of  population,  and  by  a  kind  of 


CHAP.  XXVII          THEORIES   OF   POPULATION  361 

never  be  secured  for  any  large  number  of  working  peo- 
ple anywhere  with  the  mass*  of  men  doomed  to  the  ex- 
hausting toil  and  the  wasting  poverty  which  is  inevit- 
able under  capitalism. 

461.  Capitalism  Unable  to  Use  the  Earth.— (4)' 
Under  capitalism  the  earth's  resources  can  never  be  cul- 
tivated to  the  utmost  limit  and  the  products  made 
available  for  the  support  of  all  the  living.  No  worker 
can  buy  in  excess  of  the  purchasing  power  of  his  wages. 
No  employer  can  pay  wages  unless  he  can  sell  the  prod- 
ucts of  labor  for  more  than  he  pays  in  wages.  Only 
that  share  of  the  product  of  the  labor  of  the  people 
which  can  be  bought  with  the  wages  paid  them  can  be 
made  available  for  their  support,  and  this  must  always 
be  less  than  the  whole  product  under  capitalism.  Hence, 
it  is  clear  that  the  whole  power  of  the  earth's  ability 
to  support  the  people  can  never  be  made  available  un- 
der capitalism. 

But  this  is  not  all.  Capitalism  does  not  wait  to  reach 
the  limit  of  the  world's  resources  before  it  cuts  off  the 
poor  man's  support.  Because  the  produce  of  labor  is 
always  in  excess  of  the  purchasing  power  of  the  wages 
of  labor,  the  market,  mainly  supported  by  the  wages 

social  harmony  the  advance  of  civilization  dispels  the  principal  danger 
that  threatens  its  future." — Laveleye:  Socialism  of  To-day,  p.  13. 

"Nature  left  to  herself  tends  to  weed  out  the  weak,  but  man  has 
interfered.  And  there  are  yet  other  causes  for  anxiety.  For  there 
is  some  partial  arrest  of  that  selective  influence  of  struggle  and  compe- 
tition which  in  the  earlier  stages  of  civilization  caused  those  who 
were  strongest  and  most  vigorous  to  leave  the  largest  progeny  behind 
them;  and  to  which,  more  than  any  other  single  cause,  the  progress  of 
the  human  race  is  due.  In  the  later  stages  of  civilization  the  rule  has 
indeed  long  been  that  the  upper  class  marry  late,  and  in  consequence 
have  fewer  children  than  the  working  classes;  but  this  has  been  com- 
pensated for  by  the  fact  that  among  the  working  classes  themselves 
the  old  rule  has  held;  and  the  vigor  of  the  nation  that  is  tending  to  be 
stamped  out  among  the  upper  classes  is  thus  replenished  by  the  fresh 
stream  of  strength  that  is  constantly  welling  up  from  below.  But  in 
France  for  a  long  time,  and  recently  in  America  and  England,  some  of 
the  abler  and  more  intelligent  of  the  working  class  population  have 
shown  signs  of  a  disinclination  to  have  large  families;  and  this  is  a 
source  of  danger." — Marshall:  Principles  of  Economics,  p.  280. 


362  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

of  labor,  must  fail  to  take  the  total  product  under  such 
a  system.  The  articles  which  support  life  are  the  great 
staples  of  production.  The  workers  can  only  buy  what 
their  wages  will  pay  for.  They  could  use  the  remain- 
der, but  they  cannot  buy  it.  The  capitalists  could  buy 
the  remainder.  In  fact  they  already  have  it,  but  they 
cannot  use  so  much  of  the  staple  articles.  If  they  can 
not  continue  to  sell  the  products  of  labor  they  cannot 
continue  to  employ  labor  to  produce,  and  so  even  now, 
with  almost  whole  continents  of  untaken  land,  capital- 
ism cuts  off  the  worker  from  the  means  of  producing 
the  means  of  life  by  a  failure  or  a  lock-out  whenever 
the  market  fails,  as  surely  as  if  the  limit  of  the  world's 
resources  were  already  reached.  If  capitalism  cannot 
provide  for  the  support  of  all  now,  it  is  certain  that  it 
cannot  do  so  when  all  the  earth  is  everywhere  occupied 
by  productive  workers,  and  no  one  but  the  workers  to 
provide  a  market. 

462.  Unable  to  Develop  Its  Resources.— (5>    The 
preservation  of  the  forests,  the  irrigation  and  develop- 
ment of  fertile  but  arid  soils,  the  construction  of  great 
canals,  the  building  of  dykes  and  levees  and  the  saving 
of  the  waste  from  the  great  cities  which  the  sewers 
turn  into  the  seas,  which  constantly  exhausts  the  nat- 
ural productive  powers  of  the  soil,  and  all  enterprises 
which  require  great  outlay  and  long  spaces  of  time  for 
their  full  completion,— these   things,    capitalism,    de- 
pending for  its  motive  for  action  on  profit,  cannot  and 
does  not  undertake.    But  the  full  use  of  the  world's  pro- 
ductive powers  requires  this  saving  of  what  capitalism 
cannot  save,  and  the  development  of  that  which  capital- 
ism cannot  develop. 

463.  Pestilence  and  Famine  No  Relief.— (6)    War, 
pestilence,  disease  and  exposure,  on  which  the  capitalist 
depends  to  limit  the  population,  cannot  do  it  under 
capitalism,  for  while  capitalism  can  cause  all  these  in 
abundance,  they  are  always  followed  by  a  more  rapid 
birth  rate  than  preceded)  their  coming.    Sparsely  set- 


CHAP.  XXVII          THEORIES   OF   POPULATION  363 

tied  countries  have  larger  families  than  those  which 
are  overcrowded.  Such  loss  of  life  only  reacts  with 
the  return  of  increased  numbers.  Its  only  effect  is  to 
break'  the  incoming  tide  into  an  ebb  and  flow  of  many 
waves.  But  it  does  not  stay  the  tide  itself.  Famine 
never  relieved  the  stress  of  population  in  Ireland. 
There  were  never  so  many  children  born  there  as  dur- 
ing and  following  her  greatest  famine. 

464.  Socialism  and  the  Causes  of  Over-Population. 
—On  the  other  hand  Socialism  will  meet  in  the  best  pos- 
sible manner  every  possible  phase  of  the  problem  of  an 
increasing  population  with  an  approaching  limit  of 
the  means  of  support. 

465.  Maternal  Distress.— (1)     Under  Socialism  all 
will  be  secure  in  the  opportunity  to  obtain  a  comfort- 
able living,  and  the  unnatural  increase  of  the  popula- 
tion resulting  from  maternal  distress,  caused  by  pov- 
erty, will  cease. 

466.  Overwork  and  Mental   Neglect.— (2)    Under 
Socialism  the  shortened  day  of  labor  will  give  time  for 
the  physical  and  mental  development  and  mental  activ- 
ity of  all  the  people,  and  so  the  unnatural  increase  of 
the  poorly  developed  because  of  overwork  and  mental 
neglect  will  cease. 

467.  Self-Control.—  (3)     Under  Socialism  the  leis- 
ure and  the  opportunity  for  all  to  study  will  make  more 
nearly  possible  the  general  intelligence  and  special 
knowledge  and  self-control  which  will  greatly  decrease 
the  number  of  undesired  births. 

468.  Can  Use  the  Earth.—  (4)    Under  International 
Socialism  the  resources  of  the  whole  earth  can  be  de- 
veloped to  the  fullest  possible  capacity,  with  the  best 
possible  equipment  and  under  scientific  methods,  and 
all  the  product  will  be  available  for  the  support  of  all 
the  people,  because  all  will  be  producers  and  all  will 
draw  from  the  common  stores  the  total  product  of  their 


364  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

toil.  Neither  a  failure,  nor  a  strike,  nor  a  lockout  will 
be  possible  under  Socialism. 

469.— Make  the  Desert  Blossom.—  (5)  Under  Inter- 
national Socialism  the  paternal  instinct  of  the  race  will 
make  a  garden  of  the  whole  world,  and  neither  the  cost 
of  labor  nor  the  lapse  of  time  required  will  inter- 
fere to  prevent  making  the  desert  to  blossom  and  many 
of  the  great  waste  places  to  be  forever  fresh  and  green 
with  their  unfailing  wealth.  There  will  be  no  limit  to 
improvement  placed  by  the  impossible  sale  of  an  ever- 
recurring  surplus  which  the  laborer  can  produce,  but 
which  his  wages  cannot  buy. 

470.  The  Unwelcome  Child.— (6)  But  should  the 
improbable  occur  and  the  increase  of  the  population  un- 
der normal  conditions  finally  outrun  the  boundless  pos- 
sibilities of  co-operative  production,  then  society  could 
deal  with  the  question  of  limiting  the  population  under 
no  form  of  social  or  economic  organization  so  well 
as  under  Socialism,  where  equality  of  opportunity,  with 
democratic  authority,  and  these  only,  could  enforce  the 
necessary  limitations  by  intelligent,  just,  scientific  and 
merciful  measures  for  preventing  over-population, 
rather  than  as  capitalism  proposes,  insist  on  the  unde- 
sired  birth,  only  to  starve  and  kill  the  unwelcomed 
child. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  is  the  doctrine  of  diminishing  returns? 

2.  What  is  the  theory  of  the  economists  regarding  the  increase  of 
population  ? 

3.  Give  grounds  for  holding  that  population  will  some  time  exceed 
the  earth's  ability  to  supply  the  means  of  support. 

4.  Give  grounds  for  holding  that  this  does  not  need  to  occur. 

5.  What  measures  have  been  offered  under  capitalism  as  a  means 
of  preventing  over-production?     (a)    As  to  marriage?     (b)  The  sugges- 
tion of  Mill?     (c)  The  crusade  of  Annie  Besant? 

6.  Under  what  conditions  is  it  believed  by  those  who  deny  the  ne- 
cessity of  over-population,  can  over-population  be  prevented? 

7.  Why  cannot  capitalism  deal  with  this  problem?     (a)  Show  how 
the  forbidden  marriage,  the  suggestion  of  Mill,  or  war,  pestilence  and 
famine  cannot  be  relied  on  to  limit  the  population,     (b)   Show  that 
capitalism  cannot  use  to  the  full  limit  the  earth's  resources  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  people. 

8.  Why  will  Socialism  be  able  to  solve  this  problem?     (a)  As  re- 
lated to  comfort?  (b)  As  related  to  the  more  perfect  life  of  the  people? 
(c)  As  related  to  the  full  use  of  the  earth's  resources,  and  (d)  as  re* 
lated  to  the  direct  action  of  limiting  the  population? 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

RENT,    INTEREST   AND   PROFIT 

471.  The  Joint  Producers?— According  to  the  cap- 
italists, wealth  is  produced  by  the  joint  efforts  of  the 
landlord,  the  capitalist,  the  managing  producer,  and 
the  laborer. 

472.  The  Landlord.— The  landlord  contributes  his 
share  in  the  production  by  furnishing  the  land  or  stand- 
ing room  for  the  producer,  and  has  his  share  of  the 
products  in  rent. 

473.  The  Capitalist.— The  capitalist  contributes  his 
share  in  the  production  by  furnishing  the  buildings, 
the  raw  materials,  machinery,  and  the  advance  wages, 
—that  is,  wages  while  the  first  batch  of  products  is  be- 
ing turned  out  and  the  management  is  waiting  for  re- 
turns.   He  may  furnish  these  directly,  or  he  may  fur- 
nish the  money  or  credit  with  which  to  obtain  them, 
and  he  has  his  share  of  the  products  in  payments  of 
interest. 

474.  The  Manager.— The  managing  producer,   in 
order  to  contribute  his  share  in  production,  must  orig- 
inate the  enterprise,  must  control  it,  must  find  a  pay- 
ing market  for  the  products,  must  carry  all  the  risks 

365 


360  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

of  the  enterprise,  and  he  has  his  share  of  the  products 
in  profit. 

475.  The    Laborer.— The    laborer  contributes  his 
share  under  the  direction  of  the  managing  producer, 
with  the  materials  and  machinery  of  the  capitalist,  and 
on  the  standing-room  of  the  landlord,  by  actually  creat- 
ing the  wealth  with  his  own  toil,  and  he  has  his  share 
of  the  products  in  wages. 

476.  The  Division  of  Products.— The  wages  of  the 
laborer,  the  interest  of  the  capitalist  and  the  rent  of 
the  landlord  are  fixed  in  amount  and  are  guaranteed 
by  the  managing  producer,  but  the  amount  of  his  share 
is  not  fixed  and  must  depend  on  all  the  contingencies 
of  business,  as  well  as  on  his  own  ability.    His  share 
of  the  products  is  all  that  is  left  after  all  the  others 
are  rewarded. 

This  statement  of  the  parties  to  production  and 
of  the  shares  falling  to  each  is  not  disputed.  It  is  sim- 
ply a  statement  of  what  is  of  daily  occurrence  under 
the  wage  system.  That  these  are  necessary  parties 
to  production  or  that  the  shares  ought  to  be  so  fixed, 
holds  only  on  the  assumption  that  the  wage  system  is 
a  just  or  necessary  method  of  production.  It  will  be 
shown  further  on  that  it  is  neither  just  nor  necessary, 
but  it  will  nevertheless  be  of  interest  and  of  advantage 
to  be  familiar  with  the  exposition  and  defense  made 
by  the  economists,  of  rent,  interest  and  profit,  for  these 
are  the  several  forms  in  which  the  products  of  labor, 
over  and  above  the  share  paid  in  wages,  are  taken  from 
the  laborers. 

477.  What  Is  Eent?-Let  us  consider,  then,    the 
grounds  on  which  the  capitalist  maintains  that  the 
workers  should  share  their  products  with  others,  be- 
cause the  others  have  the  legal  title  to  the  earth. 

They  teach  that  the  rent  of  any  given  tract  of  land 
in  any  particular  region  is  the  difference  between  the 


CHAP.  XXVIII        RENT,  INTEREST  AND  PROFIT  367 

productivity  of  that  particular  piece  of  land  and  the 
productivity  of  the  least  desirable  like  tract  of  land  in 
actual  use  in  that  same  region. 

They  argue  that  the  labor  employed  on  lands  which 
are  so  poor  that  they  can  pay  no  rent,  just  pays  for 
the  capital,  labor  and  management,  or  it  would  not  be 
used.  If,  then,  an  amount  equal  to  the  value  of  the 
products  of  the  poor  land  be  deducted  from  the  returns 
from  the  most  desirable  locations,  the  remainder  of  the 
product,  being  a  surplus  over  and  above  the  pay  for 
capital,  labor  and  management,  would  be  the  rent.1 

478.— The  Single  Tax.— It  is  the  contention  of  the 
advocates  of  the  single  tax  that  this  sum  belongs  to 
society  and  ought  to  be  collected  from  the  legal  owners 
of  the  land  in  the  form  of  a  tax  and  so  be  devoted  to 
the  public  use.  It  is  difficult  to  over-estimate  the  value 
of  this  agitation  of  the  late  Henry  George  and  his  fol- 
lowers in  calling  the  general  public  attention  to  this 
fact,  namely,  that  there  is  no  pretense  whatever  that 
the  sums  paid  in  rent  for  land  values,  exclusive  of  im- 
provements, represent  any  service  whatever  from  the 
landlords  to  society,  but  are  simply  the  appropriation 
by  the  landlords  of  values  which  have  been  created 
by  the  whole  body  of  the  community— for  it  is  the  com- 
munity which  most  of  all  determines  which  location 
is  the  most  and  which  the  least  desirable.  The  single 
taxers  as  well  as  the  Socialists  have  compelled  the  econ- 
omists to  face  this  feature  of  the  wage  system. 

479.  Fixed  Improvements.— The  economists  who 
have  spoken  for  capitalism  have  attempted  to  defend 
rent  by  the  claim  that  the  improvements  really  create 
the  value  of  the  land  and  that  the  land  ought  to  belong 
to  those  who  create  its  value.2 

The  answer  has  been  made  that  vacant  and  unim- 

1.  Ely:     Political  Economy,  p.  215;  and  Walker:  Political  Econ- 
omy, p.  203. 

2.  Ely:     Political  Economy,  p.  216. 


368  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

proved  land  in  the  midst  of  a  growing  community 
grows  in  value  with  the  rest;  that  the  people  whose  im- 
provements create  this  value  are  the  whole  com- 
munity; that  the  improvements  on  any  particular  piece 
of  land  are  only  a  small  share  of  the  improvements 
which  make  its  value,  and  that  therefore  the  argument 
for  the  private  ownership  of  land,  and  hence  the  private 
appropriation  of  rent  on  account  of  improvements,  is 
in  fact  an  argument  for  public  ownership  of  land  and 
hence  the  public  appropriation  of  the  rents.  It  is  these 
publicly  created  values  which  are  called  "unearned  in- 
crements, ' '  meaning  that  they  are  unearned  by  the  pri- 
vate owner  who  gets  them.  They  are  not  unearned  by 
the  public  which  creates  them,  but  does  not  get  them. 

480.  Land  Titles  and  Other  Property.— Again,  it  is 
contended  that  the  titles  to  the  land  are  as  good  and 
as  just  as  the  claims  to  patents,  copyrights  or  corpora- 
tion stocks,  the  values  of  every  one  of  which  are  as  de- 
pendent on  society  for  their  existence  as  are  the  land 
values.3 

As  to  patents,  it  is  contended  that  it  was  society 
which  did  all  the  preliminary  work  which  finally  made 
the  invention  possible;  it  is  society  which  grants  and 
protects  the  patent,  and  it  is  society  which  furnishes 
the  market  without  which  the  invention  would  be 
valueless.  Of  copyrights,  it  is  also  said  that  society 
created  the  language  used,  lives  the  life  which  is  por- 
trayed, amused  or  instructed,  and  again  provides  the 
market  without  which  the  copyright  would  be  value- 
less. 

The  same  thing  can  be  said  of  corporation  stocks  of 
every  possible  variety.  The  corporations  themselves, 
as  well  as  the  machinery  they  use,  are  purely  social 
products.  Their  tools,  their  methods  and  their  mar- 
kets are  all  the  creations  of  society.  The  "unearned 

3.    Contention  of  Roswell  G.  Hoar  in  Debate  with  Henry  George. 


CHAP.  XXVIII        KENT,  INTEREST  AND  PROFIT  369 

increment "  of  land  is  no  more  a  social  product  and  un- 
earned by  those  who  hold  the  land  than  are  the  shops, 
store  houses  and  railways  social  products  and  unearned 
by  those  who  hold  them. 

481.  Socialists  and  Single  Taxers.— Here  the  Social- 
ists and  single  taxers  part  company.    The  single  taxer 
looks  for  a  ground  of  difference  between  socially  cre- 
ated values  in  land  and  socially  created  values  in  ma- 
chinery, but  the  Socialist,  instead  of  abandoning  or 
limiting  the  application  of  the  principle  that  society 
ought  to  own  what  society  creates,  because  it  would 
logically  lead  to  the  collective  ownership  of  the  tools 
of  production,  admits  and  insists  that  this  is  true  and1 
asks  that  society  shall  proceed  to  take  for  its  own  use 
all  of  the  means  of  production,  so  far  as  they  are  collect- 
ively used,  for  all  are  either  the  free  gift  of  nature  or 
the  joint  creation  of  society. 

482.  Unearned    Benefits.— It    is  doubted  whether 
any  of  the  representative  economists  really  regard  as 
of  much  force  either  of  the  foregoing  arguments  in 
defense  of  rent.    John  Stuart  Mill  admitted  that  rent 
belongs  to  society  and  organized  an  association  called 
"The  Land  Tenure  Reform  Association/'  to  agitate  for 
public  ownership  of  land  values.    Francis  A.  Walker 
says:  "The  unqualified  ownership  of  land    *     *     * 
enables  the  land-owning  class  to  reap  a  wholly  un- 
earned benefit  at  the   expense   of  the   general   com- 
munity. '  '4 

483.  Who  Pays  the  Rent?-So  it  is  admitted  that 

4.    Walker:  Political  Economy,  p.  395. 

"If  a  man  shall  acquire  property  worth  $10,000,  and  shall  rent  it  so 
£S  to  receive  a  net  income  of  8  per  cent  per  annum,  payable  semi-annual- 
ly,  and  shall  each  half  year  invest  the  income  in  property  which  will 
yield  him  the  same  rate  of  income,  at  the  end  of  fifty  years  his  property 
will  be  worth  $500,000,  instead  of  the  $10,000  which  he  originally  had— 
all  without  his  doing  a  stroke  of  work !  And  this  does  not  take  into  con- 
sideration any  increase  in  the  value  of  the  property.  The  $490,000  has 
been  earned  by  his  tenants  and  paid  him  as  rent.  In  a  hundred  years 
the  amount  would  be  almost  incalculable.  And  in  this  manner  have 


370  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

the  landlord  is  getting  what  does  not  belong  to  him, 
and  then  it  is  argued  by  most  economists  that  this  is  no 
concern  of  the  public  because  the  rent  does  not  add 
to  the  market  price  of  the  products.  They  contend 
that  no  one  with  a  good  farm  would  sell  his  products 
cheaper  because  he  grew  them  more  cheaply  than  his 
neighbor  on  a  poor  farm.  The  market  would  be  obliged 
to  buy  the  potatoes  from  the  poor  land  or  there  would 
not  be  potatoes  enough  to  go  round.  The  expensively 
produced  potatoes  would  fix  the  market  price  for  all 
potatoes,  including  those  grown  more  cheaply,  because 
on  better  land.  Now,  they  say  it  can  make  no  difference 
to  the  general  public  whether  the  difference  between 
the  cost  of  producing  potatoes  on  good  land  or  poor 
land  goes  to  the  landlord  or  to  his  tenant  as  returns  for 
his  labor  in  excess  of  those  realized  by  his  neighbor,  for 
neither  the  landlord  nor  the  tenant  would  give  the  dif- 
ference to  the  public.5 

484.  No  Escape.— To  all  this  there  is  no  answer,  if 
the  economist  is  permitted  to  stay  under  cover  of  cap- 
italism. But  the  whole  argument  would  become  absurd 
if  the  workers  should  organize  to  raise  their  own  pota- 
toes, producing  with  the  least  labor  possible  all  the 
potatoes  that  everybody  would  be  likely  to  need.  But 
it  is  just  here  where  the  wrong  of  the  wage  system  is 
again  made  evident,  in  that  it  does  provide,  just  as 

all  great  fortunes  been  accumulated.  They  are  never  earned.  They 
could  not  be.  No  man  could  ever  grow  rich  by  the  ordinary  product  of 
labor. 

"And  there  must  be  some  reason  for  the  growth  of  large  fortunes 
which  is  not  grounded  in  justice;  for  if  they  be  not  earned  they  are  not 
justly  held.  They  are,  it  is  true,  generally  begun  in  industry  and  fru- 
gality; but  they  grow  from  other  causes.  It  is  a  singular  fact  that  not 
one  dollar  of  the  present  fortunes  of  Vanderbilt,  of  Gould,  or  of  the  As- 
tors,  has  been  earned  by  the  possessors.  The  original  which  was  earned 
has  been  long  since  spent,  and  those  fabulous  fortunes  to-day  are  entire- 
ly composed  of  moneys  received  either  as  rent,  interest  or  dividends." — 
Dement:  Workers  and  Ideals,  pp.  29-30. 

5.  Ely:  Political  Economy,  pp.  215-216;  Walker:  Political  Econ- 
omy, pp.  211-214, 


CHAP.  XXVIII        RENT,  INTEREST  AND  PROFIT  371 

these  men  claim,  a  way  by  which  the  landlord  can 
collect  from  the  general  public  "unearned  benefits" 
for  himself,  and  while  we  are  under  capitalism  there  is 
no  escape. 

485.  The  Appeal  to  Conscience.— But  the  final  ap- 
peal of  the  capitalist  is  to  the  public  conscience.  These 
teachers  who  tell  us  that  economics  has  nothing  to  do 
with  ethics,  who  tell  us  that  "love  of  country,  love  of 
honor,  love  of  friends,  love  of  learning,  love  of  art, 
pity,  honor,  shame,  religion,  charity,  will  never  *  *  * 
withstand  in  the  slightest  degree  or  for  the  shortest 
time  the  effort  of  the  economic  man  to  amass  wealth, '  '6 
when  they  can  find  no  defense,  even  in  their  own  kind 
of  economics,  for  this  theft  of  the  very  earth  itself,  ap- 
peal to  those  from  whom  the  earth  has  been  stolen,  to 
deal  conscientiously  with  those  found  in  possession  of 
the  stolen  property.  Professor  Ely  says  regarding  the 
return  of  the  earth  to  those  to  whom  it  belongs,7  it 
"will  never,  in  the  opinion  of  the  author,  appeal  to  the 
conscience  of  the  American  public  as  a  just  thing.  "8 
Francis  A.  Walker  says:  "As  the  surrender  is  now 
generations,  even  centuries  old,  and  as  the  land  has 

6.  Walker:     Political  Economy,  p.  16 

7.  "Private  property  in  or  commercial  ownership  of  the  land  can 
give  no  valid  title  against  the  inheritance  nature  bestows,  and  upon  the 
recognition  of  which  all  principles  of ,  justifiable  property  or  ownership 
depend.     'The  earth  belongs  in  usufruct  to  the  living/     No  title  which 
gives  the  present  holder  'the  right  to  its  future  products  forever'  and 
so  subverts  this  principle,  can  have  any  just  force  or  application;  be- 
cause the  very  law  of  property  depends  upon  the  right  to  control  that 
which  our  labor  has  effected.     And  since  labor  is  absolutely  powerless 
to  create  or  effect  the  production  of  any  property  without  access  to 
the  raw  material,  the  earth  and  its  substances  and  forces,  any  owner- 
ship of  these  which  debars  labor  from  their  use  destroys  the  right  to 
produce  property,  and  thus  strikes  at  the  fundamental  principle  upon 
which  all  true  property  in  human  society  rests." — J.  K.  Ingalls:     Eco- 
nomic Equities,  pp.  7-8. 

8.  Ely:     Political  Economy,  p.  297. 

"As  the  rights  of  property  cannot  exist  without  correlative  and  com- 
mensurate duties,  so  the  performance  of  those  duties  can  not  be  neg- 
lected without  bringing  the  rights  into  peril.  We  cannot  insist  upon  the 
rights  if  we  refuse  to  perform  the  duties." — Lilly:  First  Principles  of 
Politics,  p.  44. 


372  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

changed  owners  it  would  be  simple  robbery 

for  the  state  to  reassert  its  interests  in  the  land,  with- 
out fully  indemnifying  owners. ' '°  And  then  he  argues 
at  length  that  indemnification  is  "  impracticable, ' ' 
would  lead  to  "  corruption "  and  finally,  in  effect,  that 
it  would  be  better  to  give  up  our  just  claim  to  the  earth 
to  those  who  unjustly  possess  it. 

486.  "Indemnification"  for  "Unearned  Benefits." 
—A  single  question  will  settle  all  this  dust  and  clear 
the  atmosphere  for  action.  Who  will  indemnify  the 
disinherited?  Who  will  pay  the  general  community 
for  the  landlord's  "unearned  benefits  at  the  expense 
of  the  general  community  ? ' '  This  is  not  asked  with  re- 
gard to  the  wrongs  of  the  past.  Indemnification  for 
the  needless  poverty  and  the  starvation,  suffering  and 
death  of  the  helpless  women  and  children  for  a  single 
year  of  the  past  would  bankrupt  the  capitalism  of  the 
earth.  But  this  question  is  asked  for  the  future.  No 
matter  how  many  times  titles  have  changed  hands,  nor 
how  many  innocent  purchasers  are  involved,  they  will 
not  be  innocent  if  they  continue  to  collect  "unearned 
benefits  at  the  expense  of  the  general  community."10 
It  does  not  matter  what  payments  were  made  in  the 
past.  If  they  were  made  with  the  products  of  the  past, 
for  services  rendered  in  the  past,  then  the  account  is 
settled,  and  neither  side  to  the  bargain  can  have  any 
just  claims  against  the  future.  If  the  pretended  pay- 
ments of  the  past  wtre  merely  promises  made  in  the 
past,  but  to  be  really  paid  with  the  products  of  the 
future,  then  they  were  no  payments  at  all.  And  herein, 
again,  is  the  wrong  of  all  bargains  as  touching  the  pri- 

9.  Walker:     Political  Economy,  p.  395. 

10.  "If  the  society  is  poorly  or  defectively  organized,  there  is  a  free 
multiplication  of  the  parasitic  classes,  and  the  collapse  and  total  ruin 
of   that   society   soon  follows.     On   the  other  hand,   if   the   resistance 
which  it  offers  to  exploitation  be  at  all  adequate,  there  will  be  a  speedy 
elimination   of   the   individuals   and   classes   who   become    parasitic," — 
Massart  and  Vandervelde:     Parasitism — Organic  and  Social,  pp.  121-22. 


CHAP.  XXVIII        RENT,  INTEREST  AND  PROFIT  373 

vate  ownership  of  the  earth;  they  all  have  regard  to 
disposing  of  the  products  of  the  labor  of  the  future 
and  in  such  a  way  as  shall  put  "unearned  benefits" 
into  the  hands  of  the  few  and  fix  undeserved  poverty 
as  the  lot  of  the  many.11  This  is  not  robbery  of  the  liv- 
ing only;  it  is  the  veriest  rape  and  outrage  of  the  un- 
born.12 

487.  Buying  One's  Own  Birthright.— Who  shall 
be  indemnified  1  Shall  the  private  owner  of  the  earth 
be  given  the  full  value  of  the  very  blood  of  the  toilers 

11.  "From  man  down  the  creatures  live  by  preying  on  each  other. 
Insidious  parasites  infest  all  kinds  of  plants  and  animals.     Everything 
seems   to   have   some  mortal   foe.     The   very   ants  go   to   war   for   all 
the  world  like  men,  and  Venus'  flytrap  (Dionala)  is  as  cruel  as  a  spider. 
So  human   society   is   riddled   with   mischiefs   and  wrongs,   some,   like 
Armenian  massacres,  due  to  surviving  savagery,  and  some,  like  slums,  to 
sickly  civilization." — President  Eliot:    American  Contributions  to  Civili- 
zation, pp.  269-70. 

"A  receiver  of  stolen  goods  sells  me  something  that  I  stand  greatly 
in  need  of,  at  a  very  low  price.  Strictly  as  between  him  and  me,  as 
trading  persons,  he  doubtless  renders  me  a  service,  the  full  equivalent  of 
the  money  I  pay  to  him;  but  as  between  society  and  him,  and  even 
between  him  and  me  as  a  member  of  society,  there  is  an  account  still 
open  that  has  to  be  adjusted. 

"A  highwayman  points  a  pistol  at  my  head,  but  offers  to  spare  me 
if  I  shall  give  him  $500,  which  I  proceed  to  do  with  the  greatest  alacrity. 
In  sparing  my  life  he  renders  me  the  highest  possible  service,  one  for 
which  I  would  gladly,  were  it  needful,  pay  many  times  $500.  Indeed,  on 
no  equal  payment  during  my  life  do  I  so  much  felicitate  myself.  Still 
the  question  will  arise,  How  came  the  highwayman  to  be  in  a  position 
to  do  me  such  a  vital  service,  and,  after  all,  what  right  has  he  to  my 
$500? 

"In  like  manner,  while  the  owner  of  the  land  who  at  a  certain  rent 
leases  me  a  few  acres  on  which  I  may  work  to  raise  food  for  myself  and 
family,  undoubtedly  does  me  a  great  service,  as  compared  with  not  giv- 
ing me  leave  to  cultivate  it  upon  any  terms  whatever,  it  will  still  be 
rational  and  pertinent  for  me  to  inquire,  at  least  under  my  breath,  what 
business  he  has  with  the  land  any  more  than  I  or  any  one  else.  Why 
should  1  not  have  the  whole  produce  of  my  ten- acre  lot  without  deduc- 
tion, although  I  freely  confess  that  I  would  rather  submit  to  the  deduc- 
tion than  not  have  it  at  all  *  *  *  "—Walker:  Land  and  Its  Rent, 
pp.  63-64. 

12.  "I  have  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  the  miserable  condition  of 
the  poorer  classes  in  our  large  towns  is  greatly  due  to  the  accumulation 
of  land  in  a  few  hands  in  such  towns,  and  to  the  possession  of  land 
by  corporations." — Rogers:     Work  and  Wages,  p.  530. 

"We  plead  for  'a  strong,  tense,  elastic  organization/  which  puts  the 
individual  on  his  feet,  and  gives  him  the  arena  of  his  powers.  Men  are 
to  bear  in  mind  the  constant  tendency  of  power  to  usurpation.  While 
the  laws  of  industry  are  not  to  be  set  aside,  fresh  conditions  are  to  be 


374  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

which  he  is  about  to  take,  and  who  have  nothing  else  to 
give,  in  order  that  he  may  be  bought  to  loosen  his  grip 
on  the  toilers'  throats,  or  must  the  toilers  still  con- 
tinue to  surrender  their  natural  birthright  to  the  earth 
and  forever  submit  to  an .  inheritance  of  dependence 
and  want,  not  for  themselves  alone,  but  for  the  un- 
born after  them? 

When  the  "American  public"  once  understands  the 
jugglery  of  which  it  is  the  victim,  its  conscience  as 
well  as  its  economic  necessities  will  make  short  work  of 
these  "unearned  benefits  at  the  expense  of  the  gen- 
eral community."13 

488.    Services  and  Limitations  of  the  Single  Tax.— 

If  it  be  said  that  the  single  tax  offers  a  way  out,  the 

constantly  provided  for  their  fair  and  favorable  operation.  Society  is  to 
strive  for  a  perpetual  renewal  of  opportunities  and  a  redistribution  of 
advantages,  so  that  every  child  shall  come  from  the  cradle  to  a  fresh 
world  with  fresh  incentives,  not  to  one  overworn  and  used  up  for  him  by 
the  errors  of  the  past  generations.  Industrial  usurpations  are  no  more 
sacred  than  those  of  civil  power :  tyranny  may  be  in  the  possession 
of  property  just  as  certainly  as  in  that  of  authority.  Indeed,  the 
tyranny  of  ownership  may  become  the  more  subtle  and  extended  of  the 
two.  In  a  matter  of  such  universal  interest  as  personal  opportunity  and 
discipline,  the  gist  of  every  wise  measure  is  found  in  a  maintenance  of 
motives,  a  renovated  and  freshly  habilitated  life.  Society  should  look 
sharply  to  the  laws  of  social  hereditament,  should  see  what  we  do  in- 
herit, and  what  we  ought  to  inherit,  and  this  with  a  supreme  sense  of 
the  right  of  the  race  evershadowing  that  of  personal  or  private  rights." 
— Bascom:  Sociology,  p.  252. 

"Yet  the  root  of  right  is  reason,  the  slow  creeping  reason  of  the  ag- 
gregate mind.  Customs  which  are  congealed  errors  must  yield  to  the 
clear,  coherent  push  of  reason  proper.  Every  question  must  at  length 
be  brought  into  this  light,  and  there  be  answered.  *  *  *  Custom  may 
allow  one  by  entail  to  follow  and  control  his  property  for  a  thousand 
years,  but  reason  will  assert,  and  its  assertion  will  at  length  be  heeded, 
that  the  dead  yield  the  earth  to  the  living.  Each  man's  life  interest  in 
it  is  a  life  interest,  and  all  beyond  that  must  have  strict  reference  to 
the  public  weal." — Bascom :  Sociology,  p.  17. 

13.  "The  problem  has,  however,  to  be  forced.  Either  we  must  sub- 
mit forever  to  hand  over  at  least  one-third  of  our  annual  product  to 
those  who  do  us  the  favor  to  own  our  country,  without  the  obligation  of 
rendering  any  service  to  the  community,  and  to  see  this  tribute  augment 
with  every  advance  in  our  industry  and  numbers,  or  else  we  must  take 
steps,  as  considerately  as  may  be  possible,  to  put  an  end  to  this  state  of 
things.  Nor  does  equity  yield  any  such  conclusive  objection  to  the  latter 
course.  Even  if  the  children  of  our  proprietors  have  come  into  the  world 
booted  and  spurred,  it  can  scarcely  be  contended  that  whole  generations 


CHAP.  XXVIII        RENT,  INTEREST  AND  PROFIT  375 

answer  is  that  the  single  tax  proposes,  for  a  specified 
payment  made  to  the  public  by  those  who  are  them- 
selves a  part  of  the  public,  to  surrender  the  earth  for 
their  private  use  and  profit,  and  that  under  the  wage 
system.  It  would  leave  both  interest  and  profit  un- 
touched. It  would  leave  the  worker  without  organiza- 
tion, without  equipment  and  to  the  same  inheritance  of 
dependence  on  a  private  employer  as  before.  The  rela- 
tion of  mastery  and  servitude  would  still  remain  to  de- 
bauch the  one  class  and  to  oppress  the  other.14 

If  it  be  said  that  under  the  single  tax  any  particular 
worker  who  should  be  dissatisfied  with  his  wages 
could  have  his  total  product  by  going  to  work  on  his 
own  account,  which  he  could  easily  do  with  free  access 

of  their  descendants  yet  unborn  have  a  vested  interest  to  ride  on  the 
backs  of  whole  generations  of  unborn  workers.  Few  persons  will  be- 
lieve that  this  globe  must  spin  round  the  sun  forever  charged  with  this 
colossal  mortgage  implied  by  private  ownership  of  the  ground  rents  of 
great  cities,  merely  because  a  few  generations  of  mankind,  over  a  small 
part  of  its  area,  could  at  first  devise  no  better  plan  of  appropriating  its 
surface.  *  *  *  But  against  the  permanent  welfare  of  the  community 
the  unborn  have  no  rights;  and  not  even  a  living  proprietor  can  possess 
a  vested  interest  in  the  existing  system  of  taxation.  The  democracy 
may  be  trusted  to  find,  in  dealing  with  the  landlord,  that  the  resources 
of  civilization  are  not  exhausted.  *  *  *  This  growth  in  collective  owner- 
ship it  is,  and  not  any  vain  sharing  out  of  property,  which  is  to  achieve 
this  practical  equality  of  opportunity  at  which  democracy  aims." — 
Webb:  Problems  of  Modern  Industry,  pp.  240-41. 

14.  "Finally,  that  the  single  tax  would  be  an  unjust  burden  on 
labor  and  could  not,  therefore,  solve  the  labor  problem  is  as  easily  dem- 
onstrated. It  is  only  necessary  to  note  that  this  tax  is  based  on  a  fic- 
titious, vanishing  'land  value,'  and  not  on  the  intrinsic,  permanent,  real, 
the  producing  value  of  the  land.  Hence,  the  proceeds  of  a  single  tax  as- 
sessment, notably  in  the  cities  where  it  could  alone  be  effectively  ap- 
plied, must  come,  not  from  the  land  in  question  itself,  which  in  this 
case  produces  nothing,  but  from  wealth  otherwise  produced  or  appropri- 
ated. But,  as  all  wealth  is  ultimately  the  product  of  land  and  labor, 
freely  admitted  by  the  single  taxers,  it  logically  and  inevitably  follows 
that  this  assessed  wealth  or  tax,  this  much  lauded,  'non-  shifting'  single 
tax,  is  nothing  more  nor  less,  after  all,  than  a  plain  tax  on  labor,  pre- 
cisely the  same  appropriated  (robbed)  labor  as  is  all  other  appropriated 
wealth  or  capital. 

"Stripped  of  its  only  meritorious,  socialistic  features  and  reduced  to 
its  logical  absurdity,  the  single  tax  system  is  nothing  more  nor  less 
than  the  sale,  by  a  given  community,  of  their  most  advantageous  loca- 
tion for  exploiting  the  people  to  the  man  who  is  willing  to  pay  to  these 
same  deluded  people  the  biggest  price  for  his  noble  privilege  of  robbing 


376  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

to  the  soil,  the  answer  is  that  under  the  single  tax  a 
dissatisfied  worker  would  have  the  alternative  of  tak- 
ing such  wages  as  a  private  employer  would  give  him 
in  a  shop,  thoroughly  equipped  and  perfectly  organ- 
ized, or  he  could  go  to  work  on  his  own  account  and 
have  all  he  could  produce,  working  single-handed, 
without  equipment,  without  organization,  and  on  any 
untaken,  and  hence  on  the  least  desirahle,  locations.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  Socialist  contends  that  the  workers 
are  entitled  to  all  that  can  be  produced,  with  the  best 
organization,  best  equipment  and  on  all  the  land,  in- 
cluding both  the  poorest  and  the  best  locations.  And, 
further,  the  Socialist  contends  that  those  who  do  work 
shall  not  depend  for  an  opportunity  to  do  so  on  the 
consent  of  those  who  do  not. 

489.  Thrift— Saving  and  Interest.— As  to  interest 
payments,  the  political  economists  have  until  recently 
contended  that  interest  is  the  reward  of  thrift  and 
saving,15  but  this  contention  has  become  absurd  in  the 
face  of  the  thriftless  and  extravagant    lives    of    the 
greater  share  of  those  engaged  in  the  coupon-clipping 
industry. 

490.  Risk.— The  payment  for  risk  has  been  offered 
as  a  sufficient  justification.16    But  payment  for  risk  is 
insurance.    The  mortgages,  endorsements    and    other 
collateral  securities  are  intended  to  cover  the  risks. 
Absolutely  good  security  may  lower  the  rate,  but  it 
does  not  abolish  interest. 

491.  Share  of  the  Profits.— The  latest  defense  of  in- 
terest is  that  it  is  a  guaranteed  share  of  the  profits.17 

them, — a  proposition  savoring  strongly  of  licensed  brigandage  and  pos- 
sible only  under  our  present  absurd  and  immoral  social  system." — 
H.  P.  Moyer. 

15.  Walker:     Political  Economy,  pp.  230-231. 

16.  Ely:     An  introduction  to  Political  Economy,  p.  217;  Walker: 
Political  Economy,  p.  236. 

17.  This  position  was  taken  in  the  American  Economic  Associa- 
tion in  its  session  at  Chicago,  in  1893,  and  was  generally  concurred  in 


CHAP.  XXVIII        RENT,  INTEREST  AND  PROFIT  377 

The  capitalist  is  a  kind  of  partner  in  the  business.  If 
his  share  of  the  profits  can  be  guaranteed  so  that  he 
may  neglect  the  business,  may  go  South  in  the  winter 
and  to  the  sea  in  the  summer,  and  can  do  his  share  in 
"thrift  and  saving "  by  spending  what  others  create, 
then  he  consents  to  a  low  fixed  rate  of  profits,  called  in- 
terest.18 

So  the  real  defense  of  interest  is  shifted  to  the  de- 
fense of  profit,  and  interest  and  profit  must  stand  or 
fall  together. 

492.  Profit  and  Superintendence.— In  the  same  way 
profits  were  formerly  defended  as  "wages  of  superin- 
tendence, "  but  now  the  owner  pays  wages  to  a  super- 

by  the  leading  American  teachers  of  political  economy,  present  and  par- 
ticipating in  the  discussion. 

18.  "In  ancient  times  the  loaning  of  money  set  up  an  odious  debt- 
slavery.  The  fields  of  wealthy  Romans  were  in  great  measure  tilled  by 
gangs  of  adjudicated  debtors,  who  were  in  a  more  evil  plight  than  the 
convicts  employed  on  Portland  Harbor.  *****  At  Athens  (600 
B.  C.)  similar  conditions  prevailed." — Blissard:  The  Ethics  of  Usury 
and  Interest,  pp.  3-4;  see  Grote:  History  of  Greece,  Vol.  III.,  p.  213,  ap- 
pendix. 

"The  precise  meaning  of  profits,  and  its  character  as  the  reward  of 
enterprise,  will  become  clearer  if  we  distinguish  it  from  two  things  that 
are  often  combined  and  compared  with  it.  Profit,  in  its  strict  sense,  does 
not  include  wages  of  management;  in  the  case  of  many  businesses  they 
can  be  easily  distinguished.  In  a  great  railway  company,  the  share- 
holders are  the  capitalists  and  get  the  profits,  but  they  have  very  little 
to  do  with  the  management;  that  lies  with  the  directors,  who  get  their 
fees,  as  well  as  profits  on  the  shares  they  hold,  and  with  the  manager 
and  other  officials,  who  get  salaries,  but  may  possibly  hold  no  shares  and 
therefore  get  no  profits.  In  exactly  the  same  way  in  any  private  con- 
cern the  gross  income,  which  the  proprietor  draws  from  it  consists  of  two 
parts:  the  profit  on  the  capital  he  has  invested  in  it,  and  the  wages  he 
is  entitled  to  for  work  in  organization  and  administration.  That  is,  as 
we  have  already  seen,  a  very  highly  paid  kind  of  work,  and  the  gains  of 
the  capitalists,  who  manage  their  own  enterprises,  should  be  considered 
and  including  wages  for  their  time,  as  well  as  profits  on  the  capital  they 
risk. 

"This  distinction  is  clear  enough;  there  is  more  difficulty  in  dis- 
criminating between  profit,  as  already  described,  and  interest.  Profit 
is  reward  of  enterprise,  but  interest  is  the  payment  demanded  by  a  cap- 
italist who  does  not  undertake  any  enterprise  himself  personally.  He 
lets  other  people  use  his  wealth,  on  the  condition  of  giving  him  a  regular 
return  for  it  while  they  have  the  use  of  it.  So  far  as  possible  he  bar- 
gains himself  out  of  the  risks,  and  therefore  he  must  be  contented  with 
a  lower  rate  of  return  than  those  who  undertake  the  risks  of  the  enter- 
prise."— Cunningham:  Modern  Civilization  in  Some  of  Its  Economic 
Aspects,  pp.  138-39. 


378  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

intendent,19  while  he  goes  along  with  the  interest-taker, 
the  one  spending  what  is  obtained  through  interest  pay- 
ments and  the  other  what  is  obtained  through  divi- 
dends, but  both  expend  what  neither  creates,  but  what 
the  workers  create  in  their  absence.20 

Professor  Ely  says  that  profit  "is  the  return  which 
one  receives  for  the  organization  and  management  of 
a  business  at  one 's  risk. '  '21  Is  it  contended  that  if  risk 
could  be  taken  out  of  the  problem,  profits  would  dis- 
appear! If  not,  then  neither  "wages  of  superintend- 
ence, "  nor  "reward  for  risk"  is  a  justification  of 
profits. 

493.  The  Skillfully  Managed.— Mr.  Walker  argues 
that  profits  arise  as  the  difference  between  the  most 
skillfully  and  most  wastefully  managed  plants,  both  of 
which  are  necessary  to  supply  the  market.  The  most 
wastefully  managed  fixes  the  market  price  and  the 
most  skillfully  managed  makes  the  difference  between 
the  market  price  and  the  cost  of  production  in  the 
skillfully  managed  shop.22 

But  the  trust  is  putting  all  the  shops  under  a  single 
management,  and  that  the  most  skilled.  When  this  is 
done  and  there  remains  no  difference  in  cost  between 
the  most  skillful  and  the  most  wasteful  managements, 
will  profits  then  disappear?  If  so,  the  Standard  Oil 
Company  should  stop  paying  to  its  stockholders,  each 


19.  Ely:    Political  Economy,  p.  217. 

20.  "All  the  social  functions  of  the  capitalist  are  now  performed 
by  salaried  employes.    The  capitalist  has  no  further  social  function  than 
that  of  pocketing  dividends,  tearing  off  coupons  and  gambling  on  the 
Stock  Exchange,  where  the  different  capitalists  despoil  one  another  of 
their  capital.      At  first  the  capitalistic  mode  of  production  forces  out  the 
workers.    Now  it  forces  out  the  capitalists,  and  reduces  them,  just  as  it 
reduced  the  workers,  to  the  ranks  of  the  surplus  population,  although 
not  immediately  into  those  of  the  industrial  reserve  army."— Engels : 
Socialism,  Utopian  and  Scientific,  p.  71. 

21.  Ely:     Introduction  to  Political  Economy,  p.  217. 

22.  Walker:    Political  Economy,  pp.  247-259. 


CHAP.  XXVIII        RENT,  INTEREST  AND  PROFIT  379 

twelve  months,  more  than  the  total  sum  of  the  original 
investment  in  the  business. 

494.  The   Laborer's   Right    Undisputed.— The  la- 
borer is  the  only  factor  in  production  whose  claim  to 
some  share  of  the  product  has  never  been  defended  by 
the  economists.    His  claim  is  so  evident  that  it  needs 
no  defense. 

495.  The  Real  Question.— Adam  Smith  is  called 
"the  father  of  political  economy,"  and  his  first  sen- 
tence in  discussing  the  wages  of  labor  is:  "The  produce 
of  labor  constitutes  the  natural  recompense  or  wages 
of  labor."23    Then  why  does  not  the  laborer  get  that 
produce,  and  get  it  all?24 

496.  The  Answer.— 1.  It  is  because  the  landlord  pos- 
sesses the  earth,  and  will  not  permit  its  use,  except  the 
toiler  buys  what  the  landlord  does  not  justly  own,  by 
payments  of  rent. 

2.  It  is  because  the  capitalist  possesses  the  machin- 
ery, which  has  been  created  by  society  through  the 
long  centuries  of  its  growth,  and  will  not  permit  the 

23.  Adam  Smith:    Wealth  of  Nations,  p.  49. 

24.  "If  they  [the  working  classes]  create  a  small  amount  of  wealth 
and  get  the  whole  of  it,  they  may  not  revolutionize  society;  but  if  it 
were  to  appear  that  they  produce  an  ample  amount  and  get  only  a 
part  of  it,  many  of  them  would  become  revolutionists,  and  all  of  them 
would  have  a  right  to  do  so.    The  indictment  that  hangs  over  society  is 
that  of  'exploiting  labor.'     'Workmen,'  it  is  said,  'are  regularly  robbed 
of  what  they  produce.     This  is  done  within  the  forms  of  law,  and  by 
the  natural  working  of  competition.'    If  this  charge  were  proved,  every 
right-minded  man  would  be  a  Socialist  and  his  zeal  in  transforming  the 
industrial  system  would  then  measure  and  express  his  sense  of  justice. 
*    *    *    The  right  of  the  present  social  system  to  exist  at  all  depends 
upon  its  honesty.     *     *     *    A  plan  of  living  that  should  force  men  to 
leave  in  their  employers'  hands  anything  that  by  right  of  creation  is 
theirs,  would  be  institutional  robbery — a  legally  established  violation 
of  the  principle  on  which  property  is  supposed  to  rest. 

"This  is  the  problem  we  have  to  solve.  It  is  an  issue  of  pure  fact. 
If  the  law  on  which  property  [right]  is  supposed  to  rest — the  rule,  'to 
each  what  he  creates' — actually  works  at  the  point  where  the  possession 
of  property  begins,  in  the  payments  that  are  made  in  the  mill,  etc.,  for 
values  there  created,  it  remains  for  practical  men  so  to  perfect  the 
industrial  system,  after  its  kind — that  exceptions  to  this  prevalent 
rule  may  be  less  frequent  and  less  considerable.  We  can  deal  other- 
wise with  robberies  that  are  not  institutional;  but  it  is  evident  that  a 


380  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

turning  of  a  wheel  except  the  toiler  buys  him  off  with 
payments  of  interest.25 

3.  It  is  because  industry  is  undertaken  for  private 
profits  and  the  management  will  maintain  a  lockout 
until  its  profits  are  secure,  regardless  of  the  ruin  which 
overwhelms  the  worker's  family  while  he  waits  for 

society  in  which  property  is  made  to  rest  on  the  claim  of  a  producer  to 
what  he  creates  must,  as  a  general  rule,  vindicate  that  right  at  the 
point  where  titles  originate — that  is,  in  payments  that  are  made  for  la- 
bor. If  it  were  to  do  otherwise,  there  would  be  at  the  foundation  of  the 
social  structure  an  explosive  element  which  sooner  or  later  would  destroy 
it.  For  nothing,  if  not  to  protect  property,  does  the  state  exist.  Hence 
a  state  which  should  force  a  workman  to  leave  behind  him,  in  the  mill, 
property  that  was  his  by  right  of  creation,  would  fail  at  a  critical  point. 
A  study  of  distribution  settles  this  question,  as  to  whether  the  modern 
state  is  true  to  its  principle."— Clark :  The  Distribution  of  Wealth, 
Chapter  I. 

"The  fact  through  which  the  ascendancy  of  the  present  continues 
to  express  itself  in  the  economic  process  is  everywhere  the  same.  We 
have  it  in  view  under  the  phenomenon  of  the  legalized  enforcement, 
whether  by  individuals,  or  classes,  or  corporations,  or  sometimes  even 
by  whole  peoples,  of  rights  which  do  not  correspond  to  an  equiva- 
lent in  social  utility.  This  is  the  phenomenon  which  John  Stuart  Mill 
and  the  English  utilitarians  had  in  view  in  their  early  attack  on  the  in- 
stitution of  unearned  increments.  This  is  the  phenomenon  which,  in  the 
last  analysis,  we  see  Henry  George  endeavoring  to  combat  in  his  de- 
nouncement of  the  monopoly  ownership  of  natural  utilities.  This  is  the 
phenomenon  with  which  we  see  Marx  struggling  in  his  theory  of  surplus 
value,  so  far  as  it  is  true — the  phenomenon,  that  is  to  say,  of  the  acquire- 
ment by  capital  of  values  in  the  produce  of  labor  which  represent  mon- 
opoly rights  not  earned  by  capital  in  terms  of  function.  It  is  the  phe- 
nomenon we  have  in  view  that  class  of  fortunes  accumulated  in  stock 
exchange  values  which  have  not  been  earned  in  terms  of  function.  It  is 
the  fact  underlying  every  form  of  private  right  accruing  from  increase, 
unearned  in  terms  of  social  utility,  in  the  profit  ownership  of  the  instru- 
ments and  materials  of  production.  It  is  the  phenomenon  we  have  in 
view  in  the  now  universal  tendency  in  modern  industry  to  monopoly 
ownership,  or  its  equivalent  in  monopoly  control;  with  the  resulting 
accumulation  of  vast  private  fortunes  through  the  enforced  disad- 
vantage of  classes,  of  whole  communities,  and  even  of  entire  na- 
tions. It  is  the  fact  underlying  every  form  of  the  exploitation  of  a  less 
developed  people,  whether  by  special  tariffs  or  otherwise  by  a  ruling 
race  for  its  own  private  advantage.  And  last  of  all,  it  is  the  phenomenon 
which  meets  us  in  its  final  colossal  phase  in  the  international  world- 
process,  under  the  tendency  of  aggregates  of  capital,  in  an  uncontrolled 
and  irresponsible  scramble  for  profit  governed  in  the  last  resort  simply 
by  the  qualities  contributing  to  success  and  survival  in  a  free  fight 
for  private  gain,  to  control  the  general  exploitation  of  the  natural  re- 
sources of  the  world  at  the  level  of  its  lowest  standards  in  human  life 
and  human  labor.  *  *  *" — Kidd:  Principles  of  Western  Civilization, 
p.  476  and  following. 

25.  "Capital  is  the  accumulated  stock  of  human  labor." — Mill, 
Quoted  by  Adams  in  Law  of  Civilization  and  Decay,  p.  313. 


CHAP.  XXVIII        RENT,  INTEREST  AND  PROFIT  381 

permission  to  create  the  very  wealth  for  the  lack  of 
which  his  children  die. 

4.  It  is  because  the  toilers  must  first  provide  this 
rent,  interest  and  profit  for  those  who  render  no  neces- 
sary service  in  production  before  they  are  permitted  to 
produce  at  all,  either  for  themselves  or  for  the  helpless 
ones  who  depend  upon  them.26 

497.  The  Prison  House  of  Toil.— This  is  the  wage 
system.    This  is  capitalism.    This  is  the  present  prison- 
house  of  toil.    The  masters  of  industry  and  commerce 
have  been  able  to  compel  the  toilers  to  "divide  up" 
with  them,  simply  and  only  because  in  the  evolution 
of  human  society  it  has  reached  this  stage  of  advance. 
They  can  continue  to  do  this  only  so  long  as  they  can 
have  the  authority  of  the  citizenship  of  the  toilers  to 
support  them  in  doing  so.    They  can  continue  to  do  this 
only  until  society  shall  evolve  out  of  capitalism  into  So- 
cialism, and  in  this  evolution  the  toilers  themselves 
must  become  the  builders  of  society. 

498.  The  Way  Out  Is  Socialism.— 1.    Under  Social- 
ism, society  will  own  the  land,  and  there  will  be  no 
rent  to  pay. 

2.  Under  Socialism,  society  will  own  the  tools  of 
production,  and  there  will  be  no  interest  to  pay. 

3.  Under  Socialism,  society,  acting  through  those 
who  are  engaged  in  any  industry  and  who  will  know 
most  about  it,  and  not  through  private  stockholders 
both  absent  and  ignorant,  will  manage  production  and 
there  will  be  no  profits  to  pay. 

4.  Under  Socialism,  whoever  shares  in  the  division 
of  the  products  will  share  because  he  is,  or  is  to  be,  or 

26.  "Between  robbery  and  monopoly  the  difference  appears  very 
great,  but  it  consists  in  two  things,  both  of  which  are  quantitative  only. 
These  are  the  rudeness  and  the  illegality  of  the  former  as  contrasted 
with  the  civility  and  the  legality  of  the  latter.  The  principle  of  a  pro- 
cedure is  not  changed  by  mollifying  the  method.  The  motive  is  the 
same."— Ward:  Dynamic  Sociology,  Vol.  I.,  p.  583. 


382  QUESTIONS  OF  CONTROVERSY  PART  IV 

has  been  a  producer  and  no  others,  unless  the  victims 
of  disabling  misfortune,  who  will  be  abundantly  cared 
for,  but  without  the  shame  of  pauperism. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  According  to  the  capitalist,  by  whom  is  wealth  produced? 

2.  What  does  each  party  do  in  production,  and  what  is  the  share 
of  each  in  the  products? 

3.  How  does  the  capitalist  justify  the  collection  of  rent? 

4.  State  and  answer  the  argument  for  rent  (1)  as  related  to  im- 
provements.    (2)  As  compared  to  the  private  ownership  of  patents,  copy- 
rights and  corporation  stocks. 

5.  State  the  grounds  of  agreement  and  the  point  of  separation  be- 
tween the  single  taxer  and  the  Socialist. 

6.  Quote  Walker  on  the  private  ownership  of  land. 

7.  State  and  answer  the  argument  that  rent  is  not  added  to  the 
market  price  of  products  and  that  therefore  it  is  not  paid  by  the  general 
public. 

8.  State  and  answer  the  appeal  of  the  economist  to  the  public 
conscience  on  the  land  question. 

9.  Why  is  not  the  single  tax  a  way  of  deliverance  for  the  working 
man? 

10.  State  and  answer  the  defense  of  interest  as  made  by  the 
economist  (1)  on  the  ground  of  thrift  and  saving,  (2)  on  the  ground  of 
risk,  and  (3)  on  the  ground  that  it  is  a  guaranteed  part  of  profit. 

11.  State  and  answer  the  defense  of  profit  (1)  as  wages  of  super- 
intendence;  (2)  as  reward  for  risk;  and  (3)  as  reward  for  special  busi- 
ness ability  as  compared  with  a  poorly  managed  business. 

12.  Does  rent,  interest  or  profit  rest  on  any  necessary  share  in  pro- 
duction?   If  not,  then  why  are  they  permitted? 

13?    Under  Socialism  how  will  the  workers  be  made  secure  in  the 
use  of  the  whole  product  of  their  labor  ? 


PART  V 

CURRENT  PROBLEMS  OF  PUBLIC  INTEREST 
AND  SOCIALISM 


CHAPTEE  XXIX 

THE  FINE  AKTS  AND  SOCIALISM 

499.  What  Is  Art?— This  is  not  a  discussion  of  the 
fine  arts,  but  a  study  of  Socialism  as  related  to  the  fine 
arts.  There  is  nothing  more  hotly  disputed  than 
' ' What  is  Art?"  and  this  will  not  be  an  attempt  to  an- 
swer that  question.  But  there  is  nothing  more  certain 
than  the  natural  hunger  of  a  man  for  that  which  is 
beautiful.  The  things  which  can  excite  in  his  breast 
the  emotions  resulting  from  a  vision  of  splendor,  or  of 
grandeur,  or  of  truth  and  beauty,  are  things  which  he 
will  prize,  and  he  who  can  create  the  things  which  will 
produce  these  emotions  will  always  have  no  small  share 

,in  making  -this  a  world,  not  only  of  comfort,  but  of 

'gladness.1 

1.  "Art  unites  the  spiritual  and  the  physical  in  perfect  being.  It 
adds  that  supreme  emotional  perfection  to  life  Nvhich  we  term  beauty. 
h  Art  plays  an  important  part  in  sociology,  not  only  iri  compet- 
ing stages  of  progress,  but  often  as  indicating  the  true  direction,  when 
men  are  baffled  by  misapplied  energy.  In  some  sense  beauty,  perfection 
of  form,  is  the  culmination  of  science,  philosophy  and  faith,  as  it  is 

383 


384  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

500.  The  Industrial  and  the  Fine  Arts.— The  indus- 
trial arts  are  devoted  to  the  comfort  of  the  world,  the 
fine  arts  to  its  gladness. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  beginnings  of  the  fine  arts 
were  made  first,  and  of  the  industrial  arts  afterwards.2 
Songs  are  older  than  statutes.  Poetry  is  older  than 
prose.  Carving  ornaments  is  older  than  the  building 
of  houses.  Patches  of  color  were  put  on  the  faces  first, 
and  then  on  fabrics.  The  artist  came  first,  and  the 
artisan  followed  him.  Human  speech  existed  as  music 
before  it  was  spoken  in  words.  "Articulately  speak- 
ing men"  were  those  who  had  broken  the  earlier  music- 
al tones  into  bits  and  pieces  and  had  fixed  a  meaning  to 
these  bits  of  speech,  which  could  not  otherwise  be  given 
by  the  echoing  voices  of  the  primeval  forests.3  While 
modern  singing  so  slurs  the  words  that  the  unpracticed 
ear  cannot  catch  them,  and  so  misses  the  meaning  of  the 
songs,  the  older  music  had  no  words  at  all,  and  human 
beings  called  to  each  other  across  sex  lines,  and 
charmed  each  other,  not  by  the  meaning  of  the  words 
in  the  songs  they  sung,  but  by  the  deeper  meaning  of 
their  wordless  songs. 

501.  " Songs    Without  Words.' '—Songs    without 
words  had  been  sung  for  a  thousand  centuries  before 
Mendelssohn  tried  to  catch  them  on  the  written  scale 
and  to  repeat  them  on  instruments  of  music.    When 
words  became  an  important  part  in  speech  the  rhythm 
of  the  older  songs  still  clung  to  the  forms  of  speech, 
and  all  the  earliest  literature  of  the  race  was  in  the 
form  of  poetry.     Prose  was  a  later  invention.     The 
rhythm  in  natural  speech  was  omitted  from  it,  only  by  a 
conscious  effort  to  do  so.    The  oldest  literature  was 

the  fullness  and  force  of  the  inner  life,  and  its  complete  mastery  over 
the  physical  terms  at  its  disposal." — Bascom:     Sociology,  p,  261. 

2.  Darwin:     Descent  of  Man,  p.  592. 

3.  Darwin:    Descent  of  Man,  pp.  589-590. 


CHAT.  XXIX  THE  FINE  ARTS  385 

listened  to,  not  read,  and  the  music  of  its  rhythmic 
movement,  no  less  than  the  meaning  of  its  message,  se- 
cured its  hearing.  Julius  Caesar  said  of  the  ancient 
Druids  of  Britain:  "They  learn  to  repeat  a  great  many 
verses  so  that  they  sometimes  remain  (in  school)  twen- 
ty years.  They  think  it  an  unhallowed  thing  to  commit 
their  lore  to  writing.  "4  The  epics  of  Homer,  the  orig- 
inal of  the  early  Biblical  narratives,  and  the  remnants 
of  the  Babylonian  writings,  preserved  by  wedge-shaped 
characters  on  blocks  of  clay,  were  all  in  forms  of  verse. 
The  utterances  of  the  American  Indians  were  full  of 
symbol,  parable  and  rhythm,  all  poetic  forms  of  speech. 

502.  Word  Pictures  and  Oratory.— On  great  and 
grave  occasions,  when  great  souls  give  voice  to  the  race 
thought  of  the  hour,  and  real  oratory  speaks  again,  it 
is  the  imagery,  the  word    picture,    the   parable,    the 
rhythm  of  both  voice  and  movement  which  awakens 
the  sleeping  artist  in  all  men,  and  compels  them  "to 
hear  him  gladly"  even  while  they  hear  words  of  their 
own  reproof. 

503.  Form  and  Color.— The  same  is  true  of  form 
and  color  as  it  is  of  speech.    In  voice  and  form  and 
color,  the  artist  is  really  older  than  is  man  himself. 
The  beginnings  of  man 's  use  of  all  these  were  in  efforts 
of  the  sexes  to  attract  each  other  across  sex  lines.    It 
was  the  ornament,  the  display  and  the  long  low  love 
call  of  one  waiting  for  his  mate  that  was  the  beginning 
of  all  art,  and  this  beginning  was  made  in  the  animal 
life  which  preceded  the  development  of  life  into  the 
form  of  man.     And  it  furthermore  survives  and  is 
shown  each  hour  in  the  free  life  of  our  cousins  of  the 
fields  and  forests.    The  appreciation  of  sweetness  and 
beauty  of  voice,  form  or  color  and  the  desire  to  impart 
the  joy  of  this  apreciation  to  others  is  the  incentive  to 

4.    Caesar :     Britannia. 


386  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

all  art,  and  this  is  a  natural  inheritance  of  both  man 
and  beast.5 

The  perfect  human  being  is,  without  dispute,  the 
most  complete  expression  of  beauty,  in  form,  color, 
movement,  and  voice,  yet  known  to  man.  It  ought  to 
be  remembered  that  man's  love  of  beauty  while  he  had 
not  yet  outgrown  the  shaggy  and  disheveled  career  of 
his  brute  ancestry,  operated  through  the  well  known 
laws  of  evolutionary  sex  selection  to  create,  through  the 
long  centuries  of  his  growth,  these  forms  of  beauty 
and  this  voice  of  song. 

504.  Life,  Love  and  Art. —Architecture,  sculpture, 
painting,  music,  and  literature  all  appeal  to  the  eye  or 
ear  and  all  attempt  to  create  in  those  who  see  or  listen, 
the  emotions  which  inspire  their  creation.6  It  is  not 
only  true  that  the  earliest  art  was  the  effort  to  speak 
across  sex  lines,  but  it  is  still  true  that  the  emotions, 
the  mysteries  and  the  aspirations  of  life  which  culmi- 
nate in  sex  relations,  reaching  backward  to  the  cradle 
and  forward  to  the  grave,  are  still  the  subject  and  sub- 
stance of  all  art. 

If  it  be  a  song,  there  is  somewhere  the  thought  of 

5.  "The  esthetic  faculty  does  not  seem  to  be  traceable  quite  as  far 
back  as  is  animal  altruism,  which  is  found  in  some  asexual  forms  and 
perhaps  in  Protozoa,  but  when  it  is  found  it  is  always  conscious.    All 
sexual  selection  is  based  on  it,  and  we  saw  how  early  this  began  to 
transform  the  male  element,  to  mold  it  into  forms  and  to  adorn  it 
with  hues  that  charmed  the  female.     We  traced  these  transformations 
up  through  the  successively  higher  types  till  they  culminated  in  such 
glorious  objects  as  the  male  bird  of  paradise,  the  lyre  bird,  the  pea- 
cock's tail,  and  the  pheasant's  plumes.     It  cropped  out  in  the  insect 
world  in  quite  another  way,  more  directly  connected  with  the  onto- 
genetic  forces,  led  to  the  cross  fertilization  of  flowers,  and  gave  to  the 
world  its  floral  beauties.    Similarly  it  has  been  well-nigh  demonstrated 
that  many  of  the  large  and  luscious  showy  fruits  have  resulted  from 
the  advantage  that  their  attractiveness  to  birds  gave  them  in  securing 
the  wider  distribution  of  such  forms  and  their  consequent  survival  in 
the  struggle  for  existence.    Thus  long  anterior  to  the  advent  of  man  the 
esthetic  faculty,  as  a  necessary  concomitant  of  nerve  (we  can  scarcely 
say   brain)    development,    was    embellishing   the    earth    with   products 
that  the  highest  human  tastes  unanimously  agree  to  call  beautiful." — 
Ward:     Pure  Sociology. 

6.  Tolstoi:    What  is  Art,  pp.  70-71. 


CHAP.  XXIX  THE  FINE  ARTS  387 

love,  or  of  the  life  which  is  dear  because  of  love.  If  it 
be  a  landscape,  there  is  the  teeming  life  of  the  orchard 
and  the  meadow  and  the  glad  companionship  of  the 
flocks  and  herds.  If  it  be  a  cathedral,  there  is  the  gloom 
and  silence,  the  majesty  and  beauty  which  speaks  of 
the  greatness  and  value  of  the  life  it  would  reveal.  If 
it  be  a  story,  it  is  flat  and  meaningless,  unless  it  tells  of 
the  passion  of  some  lonely  life.  If  it  be  a  battle  scene, 
it  is  but  coarse  blotches  of  meaningless  color,  unless  it 
tells  of  resistance  against  the  enemy  of  wife  or  home  or 
country— and  country  as  the  defender  not  the  despoiler 
of  all  of  life.  If  it  be  a  mountain  peak,  lonely  and  si- 
lent, and  beyond  approach,  were  it  not  for  the  loneliness 
of  the  human  heart,  it  would  be  meaningless.  The  pic- 
ture of  the  Holy  Mother— and  when  was  worthy  moth- 
erhood other  than  holy— or  of  the  helpless  child,  or  of 
the  marriage  feast,  or  of  the  sad  and  silent  mourner  for 
the  lost,  all  these  speak  of  love,  and  gladden  only  those 
who,  too,  have  loved. 

505.  Joy  of  Life  the  Source  of  Art.— Art  is  the  ex- 
pression of  the  joy  of  life.    There  can  be  no  art  where 
there  is  no  joy.    Great  art  means  great  life  with  the 
fullness  of  joy,  and  art  as  the  glad  expression  of  its 
greatness. 

Now  what  are  the  relations  of  capitalism  and  Social- 
ism to  the  fine  arts  ? 

506.  'Capitalism  Cuts  Off  the  Sources  of  Art.— Cap- 
italism destroys  the  joy  of  life  which  makes  art  pos- 
sible.   All  men  who  toil,  all  traders  and  salesmen,  and 
commercial  travelers  and  clerks  are  compelled,  under 
capitalism,  to  live  and  act  as  servants  or  as  masters. 
Each  man 's  life  is  made  dependent,  not  on  the  common 
life  of  all,  but  on  the  special  whim  or  fancy  of  some 
master.    Even  the  masters  depend  on  one  another  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  make  no  life  really  free.    Now  the 
first  essential  of  the  life  which  makes  art  possible  is 


388  CURRENT  PROBLEMS 

that  it  shall  be  glad.  The  compulsory  life  of  capital- 
ism makes  a  free,  and  so  a  glad,  life  impossible.  There 
is  no  way  by  which  free  life  can  be  secured  for  any 
one,  until  the  existence  of  every  one  shall  be  made  se- 
cure without  dependence  on  any  one  who  can  by  any 
means  deprive  him  of  his  living.  Such  a  condition  can 
never  be  under  capitalism. 

Socialism  will  secure  the  livelihood  of  all,  and  there- 
fore Socialism  would  give  the  freedom  which  would 
make  possible  the  gladness  of  this  common  life.  So- 
cialism would  thus  restore  the  very  thing  which  capi- 
talism takes  away,  and  without  which  real  art  can 
never  be. 

507.  Loss  of  Leisure.— Capitalism  deprives  the  or- 
dinary man  of  the  leisure  and  the  means,  either  to  pro- 
duce or  to  enjoy  the  works  of  art.7    This  lack  of  leis- 
ure deprives  the  world  of  the  art  work  of  the  multi- 
tudes who  have  the  natural  endowment  but  not  the 
time  nor  the  means  with  which  to  cultivate  either  taste 
or  skill;  and  it  makes  a  tragedy  of  the  lives  of  those 
who,  in  hunger  and  neglect,  nevertheless  strive  to  give 
expression  to  the  beauty  they  see  around  them,  and 
which,  in  the  travail  of  their  own  sorrows,  they  strive 
to  reveal  to  others.8 

508.  "Worn  Out.' '—But  the  others  are  overworked 
and  underfed,  or  they  are  underworked  and  overfed, 
and  in  either  case  they  are  deaf  and  blind  to  the  music 
and  beauty  of  the  penniless  genius.    Because  there  is 
no  time,  the  people  cannot  learn  the  song  of  life,  and  if 

7.  "Hence  sociology  looks  to  the  equalization  of  social  relations. 
Civilization  is  a  miserably  crude  experiment  until  it  is  possible  for 
each  member  of   society  to   command  food   and  clothing  and   shelter 
and   surplus   and  leisure    enough   to   permit   progressive   and   all- sided 
expansion   of   manhood." — Small    and    Vincent:      Introduction    to    the 
Study -of  Society,  p.  79. 

8.  "The  immense  product  of  the  imagination  in  art  and  literature 
is  a  concrete  fact  with  which  every  educated  human  being  should  be 
made  somewhat  familiar,  such  product  being  a  very  real  part  of  every 
individual's  actual  environment." — Eliot:     Educational  Reforms,  p.  405. 


CHAP.  XXIX  THE  FINE  ARTS  389 

they  could,  they  have  neither  time  nor  spirit  left  to 
share  in  the  singing.  When  " piped  unto"  they  cannot 
" dance."  They  do  not  know  the  music,  nor  have  they 
strength  or  time. 

509.  Deaf  and  Blind.— It  is  not  the  poor  alone  who 
cannot  share  in  the  joy  which  art  might  give.  It  is  the 
rich  as  well.  The  one  is  bound  by  his  poverty,  the  other 
by  conventionalism.  The  poor  man  goes  to  a  poor  show 
not  because  his  tastes  are  low,  but  because  it  is  cheap. 
The  rich  man  goes  to  the  best  of  plays,  not  because  he 
understands  or  appreciates  them,  but  because  it  is  the 
fashion.  His  commercialism  has  blinded  him  to  the 
greatest  beauty.9  It  is  a  common  remark  among  the 
best  artists,  both  in  the  drama  and  the  concert,  that 
they  are  paid  by  the  private  boxes  and  the  orchestra 
circle,  but  that  they  are  appreciated  by  the  ushers  and 
the  gallery.  Under  Socialism,  leisure  will  be  within 
the  reach  of  all;  genius  will  not  need  to  starve  the 
body  in  order  to  gratify  the  heart,  and  those  who  really 
love  music  and  drama  will  not  need  to  deny  themselves 
of  the  comforts  of  life  in  order  to  secure  a  seat  in  tne 
gallery  when  genius  speaks  or  sings.10 

Under  Socialism  and  because  of  the  leisure  it  will 
secure  for  all,  instead  of  the  few  who  now  enjoy  and 


9.  "Since  the  time  of  the  Roman  aristocracy  what  has  any  aris- 
tocracy done  for  art  and  literature  or  law?     They  have  for  over  a 
thousand  years  been  in  possession  of  nearly  the  whole  resources  of 
every  country  in  Europe.     They  have  had  its  wealth,  its  libraries,  its 
archives,  its  teachers  at  their  disposal;  and  yet  was  there  ever  a  more 
pitiful  record  than  the  list  of  'Royal  and  Noble  Authors  ?'    *         *    The 
painting  and  the  sculpture  of  modern  Europe  owe  not  only  their  glory, 
but  their  very  existence,  to  the  labors  of  poor  and  obscure  men.     The 
great  architectural  monuments  by  which  its  soil  is  covered  were  hardly 
any  of  them  the  product  of  aristocratic  feeling  or  liberality." — Godkin: 
Problems  in  Modern  Democracy,  pp.  63    *    *     >    4. 

10.  "I  had  to  go  to  Verona  by  the  afternoon  train.    In  the  carriage 
with  me  were  two  American  girls  with  their  father  and  mother,  people 
of  the  class  which  has  lately  made  so  much  money  suddenly,  and  does 
not  know  what  to  do  with  it;  and  these  two  girls,  of  about  fifteen  and 
eighteen,  had  evidently  been  indulged  in  everything  (since  they  had  had 
the  means),  which  western  civilization  could  imagine.     And  here  they 


390  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

yet  a  smaller  number  who  now  produce  the  works  of 
art,  the  millions  will  be  able  to  enjoy  and  the  tens  of 
thousands  to  produce  a  better  art  than  the  world  has 
ever  known. 

510.  Patronage  and  Monopoly.— Capitalism  has  be- 
come the  special  patron  of  the  artist  but  its  patronage 
is  a  blight  rather  than  a  blessing.  It  offers  a  prize  for 
producing  that  which  can  only  come  as  the  glad  ex- 


were,  specimens  of  the  utmost  which  the  money  and  invention  of  the 
nineteenth  century  could  produce  in  maidenhood, — children  of  the 
most  progressive  race, — enjoying  the  full  advantages  of  political  liberty, 
of  enlightened  philosophical  education,  of  cheap  pilfered  literature,  and 
of  luxury  at  any  cost.  Whatever  money,  machinery  or  freedom  of 
thought  could  do  for  these  two  children  had  been  done.  No  supersti- 
tion had  deceived,  no  restraint  degraded  them;  types  they  could  not 
but  be  of  maidenly  wisdom  and  felicity,  as  conceived  by  the  forwardest 
intellects  of  our  time. 

"And  they  were  traveling^  through  a  district  which,  if  any  in  the 
world,  should  touch  the  hearts  and  delight  the  eyes  of  young  girls. 
Between  Venice  and  Verona!  Portia's  villa  perhaps  in  sight  upon 
Brenta — Juliet's  tomb  to  be  visited  in  the  evening, — blue  against  the 
southern  sky  the  hills  of  Petrarch's  home.  Exquisite  midsummer  sun- 
shine, with  low  rays,  glanced  through  the  vine  leaves ;  all  the  Alps 
were  clear,  from  the  lake  of  Garda  to  Cadore,  and  to  furthest  Tyrol, 
What  a  princess'  chamber,  this,  if  these  are  princesses,  and  what  dreams 
might  they  not  dream  therein.  But  these  two  American  girls,  surfeited 
so  with  indulgence,  they  had  reduced  themselves  simply  to  two  pieces  of 
white  putty  that  could  feel  pain.  The  flies  and  dust  stuck  to  them  as  to 
clay,  and  they  perceived,  between  Venice  and  Verona,  nothing  but 
the  flies  and  the  dust.  They  pulled  down  the  blinds  the  moment  they 
entered  the  carriage,  and  then  sprawled,  and  writhed,  and  tossed 
among  the  cushions  of  it,  in  vain  contest,  during  the  whole  fifty  miles, 
with  every  miserable  sensation  of  bodily  affliction  that  could  make 
time  intolerable.  They  were  dressed  in  their  white  frocks,  coming 
vaguely  open  at  the  backs  as  they  stretched  or  wiggled;  they  had 
French  novels,  lemons,  and  lumps  of  sugar,-  to  beguile  their  state  with ; 
the  novels  hanging  together  by  the  ends  of  string  that  had  once  stitched 
them,  or  adhering  at  the  corners  in  densely  bruised  dog's-ears,  out  of 
which  the  girls,  wetting  their  fingers,  occasionally  extricated  a  gluey 
leaf.  From  time  to  time  they  cut  a  lemon  open,  ground  a  lump  of  sugar 
backward  and  forward  over  it  till  every  fibre  was  in  a  treacly  pulp,  then 
sucked  the  pulp,  and  gnawed  the  skin  into  leathery  strings,  for  the  sake 
of  its  bitter.  Only  one  sentence  was  exchanged,  in  the  fifty  miles, 
on  the  subject  of  things  outside  the  carriage  (the  Alps  being  once  visible 
from  a  station  where  they  had  drawn  up  the  blinds). 

"'Don't  those  snow-caps  make  you  cool?' 

"'No;  I  wish  they  did.' 

"And  so  they  went  their  way,  with  sealed  eyes  and  tormented 
limbs,  their  numbered  miles  of  pain."— Ruskin,  quoted  by  Rich:  The 
Communism  of  John  Ruskin,  pp.  199-200. 


CHAP.  XXIX  THE  FINE  ARTS  391 

pression  of  that  which  is  in  the  artist,  and  secures  as  a 
result,  not  an  expression  of  the  joy  that  was  within  him, 
but  an  imitator  of  what  some  other  imitator  made  when 
he  imitated  somebody  else. 

The  prize  winning  artist  wins  the  prize  because  he  is 
true  to  the  conventional  standard,  not  because  he  is 
true  to  himself.  The  prize  promotes  the  conventional, 
while  it  smothers  the  original.  The  patronage  of  the 
capitalist  sets  the  artist  to  making  what  will  satisfy 
the  market,  not  what  will  express  himself.  It  causes 
the  public  to  value  art,  not  by  the  joy  it  gives,  but 
solely  by  the  satisfaction  of  securing  some  commercial 
curiosity  regardless  of  ability  to  appreciate  or  to  un- 
derstand the  work  itself.  And  so,  again,  real  art  suf- 
fers at  the  hands  of  these  dead  counterfeits. 

When  capitalism  takes  from  the  market  a  really 
great  creation  it  is  to  monopolize  it,  to  exclude  from  it 
those  who  could  appreciate  it,  and  to  make,  by  means  of 
it,  a  vulgar  display  of  wealth,  not  so  much  by  display- 
ing the  work  of  art  as  by  advertising  its  cost. 

Capitalistic  patronage  of  art  corrupts,  misleads  and 
destroys  the  artist's  work,  when  coming  into  existence, 
and  then  monopolizes,  degrades  and  misinterprets  it, 
when  in  spite  of  patronage  some  real  genius  has  pro- 
duced something  real  in  art. 

Again,  this  patronage  only  reaches  the  real  genius 
after  the  years  of  penury  and  neglect  have  so  embit- 
tered his  life  that  even  the  appreciation  of  his  work 
can  have  but  small  effect,  either  as  a  reward  to  the 
artist,  or  an  incentive  to  further  work.11 

Under  Socialism  no  man  will  ever  need  the  patron- 
age of  another  in  order  to  express  himself  in  things  of 
beauty  or  in  words  of  song.  It  is  inconceivable  that 
under  Socialism  the  works  of  genius  would  remain  the 

11.    Ruskin:     Political  Economy  and  Art. 


392  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

monopolized  curiosities  of  those  who  cannot  appreciate 
them,  while  those  who  can  would  be  excluded  from 
their  presence. 

Under  Socialism  and  in  the  absence  of  capitalistic 
patronage,  the  real  artist  can  do  real  work,  and  those 
for  whom  it  is  done  will  not  be  prevented  from  appre- 
ciating and  enjoying  it  because  of  the  poverty  of  the 
artist  or  the  meanness  of  some  private  patron. 

511.  Natural  Beauty  and  Commercial  Ugliness.— 
The  world  of  nature  is  full  of  beauty.    It  is  the  world 
which  capitalism  has  created  that  is  full  of  ugliness. 
It  is  the  practical  world  of  capitalism,  which  can  see 
no  reason  why  the  world  should  not  be  made  a  place 
of  ugliness  if  it  pays. 

Capitalism  has  made  deserts  of  the  fields  and  for- 
ests. It  has  built  hovels  and  unsightly  tenements  for 
the  workers.  It  has  defaced  the  rocks  and  deformed 
the  landscape,  with  its  fences,  bill  boards,  and  un- 
sightly smoke  stacks.  It  has  befouled  the  streams  and 
destroyed  the  waterfalls.  It  has  deserted  the  places 
of  beauty,  only  to  overcrowd  the  flat  and  unhealthy 
swamp  lands,  as  convenient  for  shipping  as  they  are 
unfit  for  habitation.  It  has  put  ugliness,  with  a  divi- 
dend attached  to  it,  into  open  competition  with  beauty, 
with  no  return  but  the  natural  joy  of  life,  and  under 
economic  pressure  ugliness  has  won  in  the  market 
place. 

Under  the  sway  of  capitalism,  art  has  become  a  false 
and  hypocritical  pretense.  She  speaks  alone  in  the 
palaces  of  the  few,  and  shows  her  face  only  to  those 
who  have  betrayed  her.  Ugliness  has  become  the  mas- 
ter of  the  world.  Capitalism  builds  its  death  trap  in 
shop  and  hovel  and  kills  beauty  as  ruthlessly  as  it  mur- 
ders men. 

512.  Never  Seeing  the  World.— Only  Socialism  can 
pee  a  reason  why  the  desert  should  be  covered  with 


CHAP.  XXIX  THE  FINE  ARTS  393 

blossoms,  why  the  toilers  should  "dress  and  keep"  the 
earth  for  its  beauty,  as  well  as  for  its  food.  The  earth 
is  the  natural  inheritance  of  all;  not  alone  the  natural 
resources  which  can  be  turned  into  articles  of  use  for 
the  comfort  of  all,  but  its  natural  beauty  also.  But 
capitalism  has  kept  the  many  so  busy  and  so  poor,  that 
they  have  no  knowledge  of  its  grandeur,  and  this  mar- 
velous environment  which  nature  has  placed  about  her 
children,  to  open  their  eyes  and  to  teach  them  the  les- 
sons of  the  good  and  the  beautiful,  is  never  even  known 
by  them. 

The  mountains  and  canons  of  Colorado,  the  water- 
falls like  Spokane  and  Niagara,  the  stately  movements 
of  the  Columbia,  the  St.  Lawrence  or  the  Hudson,  the 
clear  and  placid  waters  of  a  mountain  lake,  the  glory 
of  a  northern  midnight,  the  grandeur  of  the  Andes  or 
the  Alps,  the  marvelous  scenery  of  the  Rhine,  the  curi- 
ous atmospheric  effects  of  a  British  summer  day,  the 
clear  light  which  places  at  one's  side  the  snow  capped 
peaks  of  the  distant  ranges,  the  indescribable  light  and 
color  of  an  Alaskan  glacier,  the  glory  and  power  of  a 
sunlit  storm  at  sea,  with  a  rainbow  riding  in  the  white 
foam  of  every  broken  crest— all  these  are  nature,  speak- 
ing, and  beckoning  to  her  children  to  see  and  to  know 
the  beautiful,  and  yet,  under  capitalism,  for  most  men 
these  things  might  as  well  never  to  have  been  at  all. 

Socialism  will  so  cheapen  travel,  and  so  enrich  the 
workers,  that  the  ends  of  the  earth  will  be  brought, 
nigh.  What  an  added  meaning  to  a  picture,  when 
it  suggests  a  memory  so  splendid  as  one's  own 
presence  in  the  midst  of  the  most  wonderful  things  in 
nature.  How  all  the  world  of  art  will  come  to  all  the 
world  anew,  when  all  the  world  itself  is  known  by  all 
her  children. 

513.  Art  Is  Social.— All  art  is  necessarily  social, 
Its  object  is  to  express  one's  life  for  the  purpose  of 


394  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

effecting  the  transfer  of  its  own  joy  to  and  into  the 
life  of  another.  All  capitalism  is  necessarily  anti-so- 
cial. Its  purpose  is  to  extract  from  another,  and  at 
his  loss,  the  things  he  needs  for  his  use  and  comfort 
and  for  the  profit  of  the  one,  regardless  of  the  ruin  of 
the  other. 

Art  gives  joy.  Profit  gives  grief.  The  one  sings 
its  song  to  express  its  gladness  and  to  make  the  listener 
glad.  The  other  repeats  its  jargon  and  lays  its  traps, 
regardless  of  consequences  and  leaves  all  who  come 
under  its  power  in  bitterness  and  despair. 

514.  The  Art  Gallery  and  the  Market  Place.— Now, 
the  things  of  utility  cannot  be  managed  with  regard 
to  the  one  motive,  and  the  things  of  beauty  with  re- 
gard to  the  other.    If  the  motive  of  profit  is  to  remain 
in  the  market  it  cannot  be  kept  from  the  drama  and 
the  art  gallery.    If  the  social  idea  of  art  is  to  obtain  a 
footing,  even  in  the  art  gallery  and  the  concert  hall, 
then  it  must  be  extended  to  the  market.    Either  men 
will  make  clothes  with  the  social  ideal  of  the  artist  or 
they  will  paint  pictures  with  the  sordid  ideal  of  the 
market.12   Whichever  rules  in  either  must  in  the  end 
be  the  master  of  both.    Under  Socialism  the  motive  of 
the  artist  will  be  the  master  of  all. 

515.  Art  and  the  Fashion  Plates.— Fashions  are  the 

12.  ""From  the  sixteenth  century  downward,  the  man  of  imagina- 
tion, unable  to  please  the  economic  taste,  has  starved. 

"This  mercenary  quality  forms  the  gulf  which  has  divided  the  art  of 
the  Middle  Ages  from  that  of  modern  times — a  gulf  which  can  not  bo 
bridged,  and  which  has  broadened  with  the  lapse  of  centuries,  until  at 
last  the  artist,  like  all  else  in  society,  has  become  the  creature  of  a 
commercial  market,  even  as  the  Greek  was  sold  as  a  slave  to  the 
plutocrat  of  Rome.  *  *  In  an  economic  period,  like  that  which 

has  followed  the  Reformation,  wealth  is  the  form  in  which  energy  seeks 
expression;  therefore,  since  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century,  archi- 
tecture has  reflected  money." 

"No  poetry  can  bloom  in  the  arid  modern  soil,  the  drama  has  died, 
and  the  patrons  of  art  are  no  longer  even  conscious  of  shame  at  pro- 
faning the  most  sacred  ideals.  The  ecstatic  dream,  which  some  twelfth 
century  monk  cut  into  the  stones  of  the  sanctuary  hallowed  by  the 
presence  of  his  God,  is  reproduced  to  bedizen  a  warehouse;  or  the  plan 
of  an  abbey,  which  Saint  Hugh  may  have  consecrated,  is  adapted  to  a 
railway  station."— Adams :  Law  of  Civilization  and  Decay,  pp.  381 


CHAP.  XXIX  THE  FINE  ARTS  395 

creations  of  the  capitalists.  They  are  devised  by  them, 
enforced  by  them,  changed  by  them,  and  they  are  en- 
forced and  changed,  to  be  remade,  enforced  and 
changed  again,  not  by  any  advance  in  art,  nor  by  any 
activity  of  the  artist,  but  solely  and  only  for  the  sake  of 
the  profit  to  be  obtained  by  such  a  process. 

The  perfect  human  form  is  admitted  to  be  the  object 
of  the  highest  beauty.  The  most  splendid  achieve- 
ments of  art  have  been  in  giving  expression  to  the  hu- 
man form.  But  conventionalism  has  decreed  that 
man's  body  is  unclean,  and  the  fashion  plate  has  de- 
clared it  ugly.  Every  artistic  sense  of  color,  of  form 
and  of  movement  is  violated,  every  line  of  beauty 
broken.  The  natural  form  is  pinched,  and  twisted  and 
padded,  and  betrayed,  to  make  of  the  victim  a  walking 
advertisement  for  the  maker  of  the  fashion  plate.  If 
sex  selection,  based  on  lines  of  beauty  in  the  natural 
form  of  the  naked  savage,  and  the  natural  longing  for 
its  production,  promoted  the  perfection  of  the  form 
of  man,  then  the  contemplation  of  his  dress  and  the 
maternal  longing  for  a  child  that  would  fit  his  clothes, 
under  present  forms,  would  tend  to  make  of  him  an 
unbearable  deformity. 

516.  Wrecking  the  Masterpiece.— Art  had  its  birth 
in  beautifying  and  prefecting  the  forms  of  human  life. 
Its  earliest  and  its  best  expressions  were  in  naked 
human  forms  of  ivory  and  gold  and  .marble,  whose 
beauty  has  not  been  known  since  civilization  came  to 
cover  men  with  rags  and  sores.  Civilization  has  broken 
and  enslaved  man's  spirit.  It  has  bent  and  twisted  and 
deformed  his  body.  It  has  surrounded  him  with  dis- 
order and  desolation.  It  has  filled  him  with  disease,  and 
covered  him  with  all  manner  of  ugliness.  It  has  organ- 
ized the  means  of  his  oppression  and  has  called  it  busi- 
ness. It  has  taught  him  to  be  ashamed  of  that  which 
his  glory,  and  to  honor  that  which  should  be  his 


396  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

shame— and  the  culmination  of  capitalism  is  the  cul- 
mination of  this  career  of  disaster  to  the  artistic  qual- 
ities and  longings  of  the  race. 

Socialism,  on  the  other  hand,  will  give  the  fullest  ex- 
pression to  the  social  ideals  of  the  real  artist. 

517.  Capitalism  Doing  Its  Best.— Capitalism  is  not 
to  be  blamed  for  extending  its  maxims  and  its  methods 
to  the  art  which  its  patronage  makes  possible.    The 
Chicago  pork  packers  and  grain  speculators  are  giving 
the  best  they  have  when  they  carry  the  stock  yards  and 
the  Board  of  Trade  into  the  Art  Institute.    The  artist 
who  longs  for  an  art  that  is  unknown  at  the  Institute, 
the  free  and  glad  expression  of  a  life  both  free  and 
glad,  can  never  be  heard  on  the  subject  of  beauty  until 
the  artist's  social  instincts  shall  not  only  enter  the  In- 
stitute, but  enter  every  place  of  toil  and  trade.13 

518.  Strength  and  Beauty.— As  a  thing  of  utility  a 
dress  is  strong.  As  a  thing  of  art,  it  is  a  thing  of  beauty. 
But  the  dress  is  not  two  things,  one  strong  and  the 
other  beautiful.    It  is  one  thing,  and  it  is  both  strong 

13.  "Artistic  tastes  will  not  be  gratified  on  a  large  scale  until 
the  utility  of  art  exceeds  its  cost.  Unartistic  men  control  industrial 
organizations,  the  churches,  and  public  affairs,  because  they  are  more 
active,  and  while  they  are  in  control  churches,  railroad  stations  and 
public  buildings  will  be  constructed  with  but  little  regard  to  their  looks. 
All  this  would  be  changed  if  artistic  and  literary  ideals  promoted 
activity.  The  men  they  influence  would  then  control  social  and  indus- 
trial organizations  and  could  determine*  the  form  of  buildings  and  other 
objects,  if  the  net  gain  of  their  activity  to  society  was  greater  than 
the  additional  cost  of  making  their  environment  pleasing.  Under  pres- 
ent conditions,  however,  art  is  associated  with  leisure  and  is  confined 
to  galleries  and  museums,  which  ordinary  people  see  only  on  holidays. 
It  is  thus  sought  chiefly  by  the  inactive  and  overfed,  who  seek  a  relief 
from  monotony  by  sensory  stimulations.  Pleasures  that  do  not  promote 
adjustment  are  detrimental,  and  those  who  indulge  in  them  are  sure 
to  be  eliminated.  We  are  thus  breeding  against  art  and  not  in  its 
favor.  The  classes  affected  by  it  are  so  differentiated  from  the  racial 
standards  that  they  cease  to  meet  the  conditions  on  which  survival 
depends.  They  become  sterilized  and  leave  the  world  to  those  who 
adhere  more  fully  to  racial  standards.  Artists  and  writers,  therefore, 
are  made  at  the  present  time  by  education  and  conversion,  but  not 
by  breeding.  So  long  as  this  situation  continues,  there  can  be  little 
net  progress  in  art.  Each  new  generation  of  artists  rises  out  of  the 
same  inartistic  conditions,  develops  in  the  same  way,  and  dies  out  by 
gradual  extinction." — Patten:  Development  of  English  Thought,  p.  386, 


CHAP.  XXIX  THE  FINE  ARTS  $&l 

and  beautiful.  It  is  absurd  to  think  that  the  social 
instinct  of  the  artist  could  fix  its  form  and  its  color, 
while  greed  for  gain  could  fix  its  comfort  and  its 
strength.  Now  greed  fixes  both.  Under  Socialism  the 
social  instinct  of  the  artist  will  be  the  master  of  all. 
That  is  why  the  real  artist  is  always  a  Socialist.14 

519.  Artists  Are  Socialists.— Plato,  John  of  Patmos, 
Augustine,  More  and  Bellamy,  and  every  other  dreamer 
who  has  tried  to  give  a  literary  picture  of  a  higher 
life  for  man,  has  found  that  art  could  not  even  dream  of 
a  better  life,  and  leave  as  any  share  of  its  picture  the 
pitiless  penury  and  distress  of  capitalism.  Drummond 
mentions  that  John  saw  a  city  "without  a  church." 

14.  "We  have  seen  that  the  essential  condition  of  all  art  is  the 
psychic  power  of  forming  ideals.  Their  execution  is  certain  to  follow 
their  creation.  It  has  often  been  remarked  that  persons  of  an  artistic 
turn  of  mind  often  become,  especially  in  later  life,  social  reformers, 
and  the  examples  of  Ruskin,  William  Morris,  Howells,  Bellamy,  and 
others  are  brought  forward.  I  once  heard  a  lecturer  on  Sociology  at  a 
university  lay  great  emphasis  on  this  fact  before  his  class,  and  he 
treated  it  simply  as  a  remarkable  and  apparently  inexplicable  coinci- 
dence. This  led  me  to  reflect  upon  it,  but  the  explanation  was  not  far 
to  seek.  An  artist,  or  art  critic,  like  Ruskin,  possesses  a  mind  specially 
constituted  for  seeing  ideals  in  nature.  Such  a  mind  instantly  detects 
the  defects  in  everything  observed  and  unconsciously  supplies  the 
missing  parts.  This  faculty  is  general,  and  need  not  be  confined  to 
human  features,  to  architectural  designs,  to  statues,  portraits  and 
landscapes.  It  may  take  any  direction.  After  a  life  engaged  in  the 
search  of  ideals  in  the  world  of  material  things,  the  inind  often  grows 
more  serious  and  is  more  and  more  sympathetic.  It  lays  more  stress  on 
moral  defects,  and  in  the  most  natural  way  conceivable  it  proceeds  to 
form  ethical  and  social  ideals  by  the  same  process  that  it  has  always 
formed  esthetic  ideals.  The  defectiveness  of  the  social  state  in  per- 
mitting so  much  suffering  is  vividly  represented,  and  the  image  of  an 
ideal  society  in  which  this  would  be  prevented  spontaneously  arises  in 
the  mind.  Instinctively,  too,  the  born  artist  now  becomes  a  social 
artist,  proceeds  to  construct  such  an  ideal  society,  and  we  have  a  great 
array  of  Utopias,  and  Arcadias,  and  Altrureas.  *  *  *  To  indulge  in 
an  apparent  hyperbole,  the  moral  and  social  reformer,  nay,  the  social 
and  political  agitator  or  even  fanatic,  provided  he  be  sincere  and  not 
a  self-seeker,  exercise  the  same  function  as  the  poet,  the  sculptor,  and 
the  painter,  and  out  of  all  these  fields  of  art,  even  from  that  of  music, 
there  have  been  recruited,  in  this  perfectly  natural  and  legitimate  way, 
philanthropists,  humanitarians,  socialists,  idealists,  religious,  economic 
and  social  reformers.  The  list  is  large,  but  as  representative  types,  be- 
sides those  already  mentioned,  we  may  properly  name  Victor  Hugo, 
Tolstoi,  Wagner,  Millet,  Swinburne  and  Oeorge  Eliot." — Ward:  Pure 
Sociology,  pp.  83-84. 


398  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

But  it  was  also  without  a  bank,  a  real  estate  office  or  a 
labor  market,  and  in  his  city  the  fixed  condition  of 
every  service  was  ' '  to  every  one  according  as  his  work 
is."15  Wagner  in  music,  Millet  among  the  painters, 
Morris,  Euskin,  Carlyle,  Zola,  Hugo,  Dickens  and 
Burns  among  the  singers  of  songs  and  the  tellers  of 
stories,  and  the  whole  number  of  those  who,  with  them, 
have  given  to  the  world  the  art  it  has,  have  succeeded 
in  doing  so  only  as  they  have  defied  and  deserted  the 
spirit  of  capitalism,  and  have  caught  the  social  instinct 
which  under  Socialism  will  make  the  whole  earth  a 
place  of  beauty  and  every  daily  task  of  life  an  ex- 
pression of  its  joy. 

520.  Summary.— 1.  Capitalism,  through  the  pov- 
erty which  it  causes,  destroys  the  joy  of  life  on  which 
art  depends  for  its  existence. 

2.  Capitalism,  through  the  relations  of  mastery  and 
servitude  which  the  wage  system  enforces,  prevents  the 
fullness  of  liberty,  without  which  no  life  can  freely  ex- 
press itself,  and  so  makes  real  art  impossible. 

3.  Capitalism,  through  its  patronage  of  art,  humili- 
ates the  artist  and  degrades  his  work. 

4.  Capitalism  monopolizes   the   works    of   art,  so 
that  that  which  should  be  the  joy  of  all  is  made  the 
misunderstood  and  unappreciated  curiosity  of  the  few. 

5.  Capitalism,  because  of  the  lack  of  leisure,  and 
cost  of  travel  under  its  rule,  withholds  from  the  masses 
any  opportunity  to  even  see  the  most  beautiful  in 'na- 
ture or  to  cultivate  the  taste  to  understand  or  the  skill 
to  create  real  art. 

6.  Socialism  will  restore  the  joy  of  life,  by  making 
certain  the  means  of  life  for  all,  so  far  as  poverty  or 
the  fear  of  poverty  is  able  to  make  life  miserable. 

7.  Socialism  will  abolish  the  relations  of  mastery 

15.     Revelation:     XXII.,  12.     (New  version). 


CHAP.  XXIX  THE  FINE  ARTS  399 

and  servitude.  Under  Socialism  the  superintendent 
will  be  a  public  servant,  answerable  to  those  at  work 
under  his  direction,  not  to  a  private  boss  answerable  to 
a  non-resident  stockholder.  Socialism  will  make  all 
men  free,  and  so  with  liberty  will  make  possible  the  art 
which  waits  for  liberty. 

8.  Under  Socialism  the  artist  will  need  the  patron- 
age of  no  one,  and  his  products  cannot  be  monopolized 
by  the  few,  and  the  many  will  have  both  the  leisure 
and  the  means  for  study,  travel  and  for  art  production. 

9.  Under  Socialism  the  motive  and  the  instincts  of 
the  artist  will  rule  the  world,  and  every  highway,  for- 
est, field,  household,  workshop,  or  market  place  will 
be  a  work  of  art  and  so  an  object  of  beauty,  a  minister 
to  the  joy  of  life. 

10.  Under  Socialism  it  will  not  only  be  true,  as  now, 
that  artists  will  be  Socialists,  but  then  the  artisans 
will  be  artists  also. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  is  the  difference  between  the  industrial  arts  and  the  fine 
arts? 

2.  Which  was  first  to  come  into  existence? 

3.  Give  an  account  of  the  development  of  speech,  first  in  music 
and  poetry,  and  afterward  in  prose.    What  of  the  most  ancient  writings  ? 

4.  What  is  the  purpose  of  art,  in  the  motive  which  moves  the 
artist  to  produce  his  work?     What  of  sex  lines  as  the  occasion  for  the 
work  of  the  early  artists? 

5.  What  of  the  art  instinct  as  a  factor  in  the  development  of  the 
human  form? 

6.  Show  that  all  art  has  some  direct  relation  to  the  emotions  of  the 
heart.    WThy  is  there  no  art  where  there  is  no  love?    Give  relations  of 
great  art  to  great  life. 

7.  How  does  capitalism  destroy  the  joy  of  life?     What  of  toilers 
and  traders?    What  of  masters  in  their  relations  to  each  other? 

8.  How  does  the  lack  of  means  and  leisure  affect  art  for  those  who 
are  artists,  and  those  who  would  enjoy  art?     What  of  the  rich  man's 
appreciation  of  art? 

9.  Does  art  depend  upon  capitalistic  patronage  ?    What  is  the  effect 
of  such  patronage?     On  the  general  public?     On  the  artist?     What  of 
the  prize  winning  artist?    Under  it,  what  becomes  of  the  best  art? 

10.  How  does  capitalism  destroy  natural  beauty?     How  does  it 
prevent  the  many  from  enjoying  the  best  in  nature? 

11.  What  of  the  fashions  ?    Their  relation  to  capitalism  and  to  art  ? 
What  of  the  human  form? 


400  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  TAUT  V 

12.  Can  the  things  of  beauty  and  the  things  of  utility  be  separated 
and  the  artist's  motive  rule  in  one  place  and  the  commercial  instincts 
rule  in  the  other? 

13.  How  would  Socialism  affect  art,  as  to  the  joy  of  life?    As  to 
means  and  the  leisure  for  the  production  and  the  enjoyment  of  art? 
As  to  the  liberty  which  would  make  the  artist  free  to  produce  the  best 
that  is  in  him?     As  to  the  monopoly  of  the  products  of  art?     As  to 
fashions?    As  to  natural  beauty  and  the  world's  wonders? 

14.  What  has  been  true  of  all  artistic  efforts  to  make  a  literary 
picture  of  a  higher  life  for  man? 

15.  Why  are  artists  Socialists  ? 


CHAPTER  XXX 

RELIGION  AND  SOCIALISM 

521.  The  Thinking  Animal.— The  word  man  is  de- 
rived from  an  old  term  which  meant ' '  to  think. ' '    Man 
is   the   animal  that   thinks.     Thinking   involves  the 
process  of  comparing  things  in  order  to  discover  their 
relations.    Instinct  is  an  impulse  to  act  in  some  given 
way  without  consciously  thinking  about  the  action.   In- 
stinct is  believed  to  be  an  inheritance  from  the  experi- 
ence of  one's  ancestors.    The  ability  to  think  is  called 
reason.    It  is  said  that  man  is  governed  by  reason  and 
animals  by  instinct.    It  is  a  disputed  question  whether 
some  animals  do  not  reason.    It  is  not  disputed  that 
some  men  have  only  the  smallest  power  to  do  so.    It  is 
certain  that  at  the  beginning  of  man's  career,  man,  the 
thinking  animal,  must  have  been  governed  by  his  in- 
stincts. 

522.  Oldest  Instincts.— The  long  centuries  of  experi- 
ence, during  which  his  animal  ancestry  had  developed 
his  instincts,  had  been  given  to  the  struggle  for  exist- 
ence, and  just  as  the  ruling  impulse,  the  instinct,  of  a 
fledgling  is  to  try  its  wings  in  flight,  so  the  ruling  im- 
pulse, the  race  instinct  of  man  at  the  beginning  of  his 

401 


402  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

career  as  man,  was  to  use  all  his  powers  in  this  strug- 
gle for  existence. 

The  struggle  had  been  with  heat  and  cold,  with  hun- 
ger and  disease  with  strangers  and  with  beasts  of  prey. 
These,  then,  were  his  foes  and  the  instinct,  the  ruling 
impulse  of  his  life,  was  to  be  at  war  with  them. 

523.  Moving  and  Motionless— Living  and  Dead.- 
It  is  impossible  to  understand  how  the  first  discovery, 
the  result  of  self-directed  reflection,  could  have  been 
anything  other  than  that  some  things  move  and  some 
things  do  not  move.    He  stood  by  the  side  of  beasts  or 
men.    While  living  they  moved.  When  dead  they  were 
motionless.    His  earliest  classification  must  have  been 
the  moving  and  the  motionless,  the  living  and  the  dead.1 

Men  still  speak  of  "dead  matter "  and  "living 
water. ' '  Matter  is  not  dead  in  the  sense  it  was  former- 
ly supposed  to  be,  and  flowing  streams  do  not  live  as 
they  were  understood  to  live  when  the  expression  "liv- 
ing water ' '  was  given  to  our  forms  of  speech. 

To  the  first  thinkers,  the  sun  and  the  moon  and  the 
stars  were  seen  to  be  in  motion,  and  comparison  with 
living  things  taught  them  to  believe  that  these  heaven- 
ly bodies  were  themselves  alive.  The  trees  grew,  the 
rivers  flowed,  the  fruits  ripened,  the  clouds  crossed  the 
skies  and  broke  into  the  noise  and  fury  of  the  storm. 
The  winds  kissed  man's  face,  sung  in  the  hanging 
branches,  and  shrieked  in  the  winter's  blast.  All  these 
were  regarded  as  living  things,  for  life  alone  gave  mo- 
tion. How  great  and  marvelous  the  life  which  moved 
the  cataract  or  whose  voice  was  the  thunder  or  whose 
breath  was  the  storm. 

524.  The  Breath  of  Life,— When  beasts  or  men  no 
longer  breathed,  they  were  seen  to  die.    Comparison  of 
living  things  with  those  that  did  not  live  taught  them 

1.    Clodd:    Childhood  of  the  World,  p.  18. 


CHAP.  XXX  RELIGION  AND  SOCIALISM  403 

that  to  breathe  was  to  live,  and  to  lose  one 's  breath  was 
at  once  to  die.  Gust  and  ghost  are  different  ways  of 
spelling  the  same  word.  Both  mean  the  same  thing.2 
In  all  growing,  moving  things  they  understood  there 
was  a  ghost,  a  spirit,  life.  With  all  these  things,  as 
man  came  to  know  them,  he  was  struggling  to  preserve 
his  own  life.  He  thought  of  these  things  as  having  life 
and  with  life  he  understood  them  also  to  possess  all  the 
hopes  and  fears,  the  hunger  and  despair  which  he  found 
in  his  own  life's  experience. 

525.  The  Origin  of  Worship.— In  his  struggle  for 
existence  he  could  not  have  been  very  long  in  making 
the  discovery  that  there  were  things  which  by  his 
strength  he  could  control,  and  other  things  from  which 
he  must  escape,  or  whose  good  will  he  must  secure  or 
else  be  overcome  by  them.    Again,  the  classification 
was  natural  and  easy.    The  things  of  which  he  was 
master  were  one  class  and  the  things  which  were  his 
masters  made  up  another  class.    As  he  attributed  to 
all  the  things  with  which  he  struggled  the  qualities  of 
his  own  mind,  he  soon  learned  to  seek  the  good  will 
of  all  things  stronger  than  himself  in  forest,  field  and 
storm  or  sky,  by  offering  the  same  services  for  their 
good  will  which  he  would  be  ready  to  accept  from 
some  life  inferior  to  his  own. 

He  fought  with  whatever  force  he  thought  to  be 
less  than  his  own.  He  surrendered  to  whatever  force 
he  could  see  no  way  to  overcome.  What  he  could  whip 
he  whipped,  and  what  he  could  not  whip  he  worshipped. 

526.  Fetishism— The    Worship    of    Things.— The 
earliest  form  of  worship,  and  this  is  true  everywhere 
and  of  all  the  races  of  mankind,  was  Fetishism.3    It 
means  the  worship  of  things,  each  separate  thing  by  it- 
self. 

2.  Clodd:     Childhood  of  the  World,  p.  21. 

3.  Clodd:     Childhood  of  the  World,  p.  22. 


404  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

527.  Polytheism— Many    Masters    of    Groups    of 
Things.— The  first  advance  in  the  development  of  re- 
ligion was  made  when  man,  by  the  process  again  of 
the  comparison  of  things,  discovered  that  all  trees  of 
any  particular  kind  grew  and  blossomed  and  brought 
to  maturity  their  nuts  and  fruits  in  the  same  manner.4 
All  the  streams  seemed  to  be  moving  alike.    The  water- 
falls broke  into  spray  of  the  same  kind,  they  sang  the 
same  songs,  and  hung  in  the  mists  above  them  the  same 
rainbow  everywhere.    It  was  an  easy  step  to  under- 
stand that  the  same  spirit  was  in  them  all.    Each  sep- 
arate thing  now  ceased  to  be  a  god,  and  each  class  of 
things  became  the  subject  of  its  own  particular  divin- 
ity.   Before,  the  storm  itself  was  a  god,  but  now  they 
said,  "He  rides  upon  the  storm/' 

This  form  of  worship  is  called  polytheism  (many 
gods),  and  under  it  worship  passed  from  the  worship 
of  things  to  the  worship  of  the  masters  of  many  things. 

528.  One  God  and  One  Evil  Spirit— Masters  of  All. 
—The  next  step,  now  that  it  has  been  taken,  seems 
most  natural  and  easy.     But  we  are  looking  at  the 
problem  with  the  conclusions  of  the  thought  of  many 
centuries  as  the  common  thought  and  speech  made  fa- 
miliar to  us  from  the  earliest  moments  of  our  childhood. 
The  process  of  comparison  by  which  it  could  be  discov- 
ered that  there  were  characteristics  in  the  movements 
and  products  of  all  things  which  indicated  that  there 
was  one  master  of  all  things,  instead  of  many  masters 
of  many  things,  was  not  an  easy  step  to  take. 

The  difference  between  the  harvest  and  the  plagues 
which  destroyed  the  harvests,  between  doves  and 
snakes,  between  food  and  poison,  between  the  strength 
of  youth  and  the  pestilence  that  "  walketh  at  noonday " 
was  so  great  and  so  difficult  of  explanation,  if  both 
were  the  action  of  the  same  Great  Spirit,  that  man  was 

4.    Clodd:    Childhood  of  the  World,  p.  25. 


CHAP.  XXX  RELIGION  AND  SOCIALISM  405 

unable  to  make  the  passage  from  polytheism  to  mono- 
theism—from many  gods  to  one  god— except  it  be  be- 
lieved that  the  Great  Spirit  of  all  was  at  war  with  a 
lesser  and  malignant  spirit  and  that  in  the  fortunes  of 
this  warfare  of  the  gods,  whenever  evil  befell  him, 
either  it  was  because  of  the  wrath  of  the  Great  Spirit 
or  the  victim  of  misfortune  had  been  caught  in  the 
enemy's  country. 

The  beginning  of  this  worship  of  one  God  of  all 
good  spirits  and  the  execration  of  the  one  malignant 
master  of  all  minor  devils,  brings  us  to  the  closing 
years  of  barbarism  and  to  the  opening  centuries  of  civ- 
ilization with  its  written  records  and  its  sacred  books 
and  to  the  beginning  of  the  written  story  of  the  further 
development  of  religion. 

529.  Common  Grounds  of  Scholarship  of  All  Creeds. 
—It  is  not  within  the  scope  of  this  discussion  to  enter 
upon  any  of  the  questions  of  dispute  regarding  the  au- 
thority of  the  sacred  writings  or  of  the  ecclesiastical 
organizations.     The  purpose  of  this  chapter  will  not 
require  us  to  go  outside  of  the  field  where  all  that  is 
stated  is  admitted  to  be  true  by  the  best  scholarship  of 
all  the  creeds  and  by  the  creedless  scholarship  as  well. 

It  is  the  purpose  of  this  chapter  to  call  attention  to 
the  way  in  which  religion  is  now  monopolized  and  de- 
based by  the  rule  of  capitalism.  If  it  is  true  that  a 
great  factor  in  the  life  of  man  which  has  come  with  him 
from  the  beginning  and  has  had  so  large  a  share  in 
the  processes  of  his  development  is  debased  by  capital- 
ism and  would  be  liberated,  ennobled  and  made  a  thou- 
sand-fold more  effective  under  Socialism,  then  all  alike 
should  swing  wide  their  doors  to  welcome  this  new  fac- 
tor in  the  life  of  man. 

530.  The  Evolution  of  Religion.— It  has  been  seen 
in  Chapter  III  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  story  of 
man's  life  on  earth  he  was  entirely  without  organiza- 


406  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

tion.5  Ignorant  of  the  nature  of  his  surroundings, 
guided  by  the  instincts  of  his  animal  ancestry,  afraid 
of  each  separate  thing  which  had  the  power  to  harm 
him,  his  fears  evolved  a  faith  which  also  was  without 
organization.  Having  no  conception  of  any  established 
relations  between  himself  and  his  fellows,  it  was  impos- 
sible that  he  should  think  of  such  relations  between  the 
things  he  worshipped. 

531.  Beginnings  of  Organization.— But  as  organiza- 
tion advanced  among  men  and  they  built  their  camps 
together,  kept  a  common  fire,  organized  fishing  com- 
panies, hunted  and  cultivated  the  fields  and  herded  the 
flocks  together,  it  became  alike  impossible  that  the  or- 
ganization which  they  were  able  to  develop  among 
themselves  they  should  continue  forever  to  think  im- 
possible among  the  gods.    Hence,  as  the  chief  began  to 
appear  among  men,  the  master  of  gods  came  to  be 
thought  of  among  the  gods. 

532.  Cannibalism.— Under  fetish  worship,  cannibal- 
ism was  the  most  natural  thing  to  come  into  existence. 
If  some  one  man  became  mightier  than  many  others 
and  each  thing  had  life,  great  or  small,  according  to  its 
strength,  then  great  warriors  were  great  gods  and  "to 
drink  their  blood  and  to  eat  their  flesh "  was  to  ab- 
sorb the  divinity  of  the  captured  warrior.    This  prac- 
tice and  this  creed  was  found  among  all  races  of  men 
and  in  all  lands  in  the  earlier  stages  of  the  race  life.6 
It  shows  why,  in  human  sacrifices,  the  strongest  and  the 
most  beautiful  were  required  for  the  offering  and  why, 
when  animals  were  at  last  substituted  for  men,  the  of- 
fering had  to  be  spotless  and  the  choicest  of  the  flock. 

533.  The  Families  of  Gods.— The  fact  that  all  rivers 
had  certain  qualities  in  common  was  not  realized  by 

5.  See  Chapter  IV. 

6.  Morgan:     Ancient  Society. 


CHAP.  XXX  RELIGION  AND  SOCIALISM  407 

men  before  organization  among  themselves  Had  made 
its  appearance.  When  they  passed  from  the  worship 
of  things  to  the  worship  of  the  masters  of  things,  mas- 
tery was  a  sort  of  democratic  function,  exercised  by 
groups  of  men,  who  were  themselves  kinsmen.  The 
new  gods  were  members  of  the  family  of  the  gods  and 
at  the  first  exercised  their  powers  after  the  manner  of 
the  primeval  groups  of  savages  who  were  working 
their  way  into  the  institutions  of  earlier  barbarism. 

534.  The  Gods  of  War.— The  leisure  class  began  to 
appear  with  the  organization  of  religion,  the  univer- 
sality of  inter-tribal  wars  and  with  the  beginning  of 
slavery.    The  wars  were  between  the  gods  as  well  as 
between  the  tribes.    The  tribes  which  were  victorious 
were  believed  to  have  won  in  battle  because  the  gods 
of  the  victors  had  overcome  and  subdued  the  gods  of 
the  vanquished.  It  is  believed  that  the  supposed  share 
which  the  gods  had  in  these  tribal  wars  was  no  small 
factor  in  effecting  the  change  from  the  massacre  to  the 
enslavement  of  those  beaten  in  battle.7 

535.  Religion  and  Slavery.— The  relation  of  this 
form  of  religion  to  slavery  is  better  seen  in  the  life  of 
ancient  Eome  than  anywhere  else,  because  here  the 
military  life  which  created  the  economic  demand  for 
slaves,  the  worship  of  the  many  gods  of  polytheism  and 
slavery,  as  a  method  of  industry,  all  reached  their  high- 
est development. 

While  previous  world  powers  had  destroyed  the 
gods  and  forbidden  the  religions  of  the  conquered  peo- 
ples, Eome  captured  the  images  and  carried  the  gods 
captive  to  the  Roman  Pantheon,  a  temple  for  all  the 
gods,  and  so  reinforced  the  captivity  of  the  conquered 
countries  by  the  captivity  of  their  gods.  Eome  became 
also  the  patron  of  the  conquered  gods  and  provided  sup- 
port for  the  priests  who  ministered  unto  them  and  in 

7.    J.  K.  Ingram:    History  of  Slavery,  p.  8,- 


408  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

this  way  effected  an  alliance  with  the  trusted  religious 
teachers  of  conquered  peoples  and  so  was  able  to  use 
the  religion  of  a  conquered  tribe  to  enforce  its  slavery.8 

536.  The  Jews,  the  Romans  and  the  Tribal  Gods.— 
The  Jews  and  Eomans  could  never  come  to  an  under- 
standing because  the  Jews  had  no  god  which  the  Eo- 
mans were  able  to  make  a  captive.9 

As  long  as  the  petty  tribal  life  lasted  and  the  petty 
tribal  wars  continued,  the  gods  were  petty  tribal  gods 
engaged  in  petty  tribal  matters. 

537.  The  One  Military  Master  and  the  One  God.- 
In  tracing  the  story  of  the  development  of  religion  in 
Eome,  it  is  seen  that  just  as  the  ancient  democracy  of 
the  original  tribes  developed  into  the  great  political 
power,  which,  on  its  industrial  side,  was  a  slave  power, 
and,  in  the  method  of  its  administration,  was  a  military 
power,  so  the  conception  of  the  gods  changed  from  the 
family  of  quarreling  gods  to  the  absolutism  of  the  one 
military  master.    The  European  mind  was  never  able 
to  think  of  one  God  ruling  all  the  heavens  and  the  earth, 
until  after  all  Europe  had  felt  the  power  of  one  emperor 
ruling  all  the  world. 

It  was  only  after  the  world  power  had  been  devel- 
oped and  enforced  for  centuries  and  all  men  were  com- 
pelled to  submit  to  a  central  human  power,  that  the  idea 
of  the  one  universal  and  unseen  God  was  able  to  strong- 
ly move  the  minds  of  men.  It  was  after  the  "ends  of 
the  earth "  and  the  " Isles  of  the  Sea"  had  paid  tribute 
to  Eome  that  the  creed  of  Abraham  became  the  faith  of 
the  world,  and  then  only  by  keeping  a  place  for  evil 
spirits  in  order  to  explain  the  plague  and  famine  which 

8.  J.  K.  Ingram:     History  of  Slavery,  p.  8. 

9.  "When  Pompey  first  conquered  the  Jews  and  forced  his  way 
into  their  temple,  he  reported  that  it  was  empty  and  their  secret  rites 
unmeaning."     See  Tacitus:     History,  5,  9.    He  could  not  conceive  of  a 

d  which  he  could  not  find  and  carry  away  by  force  of  arms,  after  he 
.  captured  his  temple. 


CHAP.  XXX  RELIGION  AND  SOCIALISM  409 

it  was  thought  could  not  come  to  a  devout  people,  ex- 
cept a  devil  be  the  bearer  of  them. 

538.  The  Ancient  Priesthood.— The  ancient  priest- 
hood gathered  to  itself  all  the  functions  of  the  leisure 
and  professional  classes.    The  world  was  divided  into 
soldiers  and  slaves.   The  priest  ranked  with  the  soldier. 
In  youth  the  priest  was  the  soldier's  teacher,  in  sick- 
ness his  physician,  in  war  his  counselor  and  soothsayer, 
and  in  peace  his  law-giver. 

539.  The  Law  of  Growth.— A  tree  grows  whether  it 
will  or  not,  and  by  a  process  of  natural  selection  and 
the  survival  of  the  best  adapted,  it  may  improve  as  the 
centuries  pass.  But  the  hand  of  man  may  quicken  the 
process  of  improvement.    Under  his  conscious  selec- 
tion and  training,  plants,  animals  and  men  improve, 
not  by  the  overriding  of  the  natural  order,  but  by 
learning  it  and  the  more  completely  complying  with 
the  natural  law  of  life.10 

540.  Great  Services  of  the  Church.— It  would  be  ab- 
surd as  well  as  untrue  to  deny  or  to  belittle  the  great 
service  of  ecclesiastical  orders  during  the  long  years 
since  soldiers  have  been  trying  to  conquer  the  world  to 
the  authority  of  a  single  political  power  and  the  mis- 
sionaries have  been  striving  to  convert  the  world  to  a 
single  religion. 

During  the  centuries  of  disorder  which  followed  the 
collapse  of  ancient  European  civilization,  the  church 
preserved  from  utter  loss  the  literature,  the  agricul- 

10.  No  economist  of  reputation  at  the  present  day  would  attempt 
to  ignore  the  ethical  aspects  of  an  institution,  as  might  have  been 
done  fifty  years  ago.  Instead  of  asserting  the  complete  independence 
of  economics  and  ethics,  the  modern  economist,  whether  individualist 
or  Socialist,  would  insist  on  the  close  connection  between  the  two 
sciences.  He  would  say  that  nothing  can  be  economically  beneficial 
which  was  ethically  bad,  because  such  economic  benefits  could  only  be 
transitory.  He  would  insist  with  equal  force  that  nothing  could  be 
ethically  good  which  was  economically  disastrous,  because  in  this  case 
also  destruction  must  ensue  with  equal  certainty." — Hadley:  Eco- 
nomics, pp.  22-23. 


410  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

ture,  the  horticulture,  the  learning,  the  medicine  and 
the  law  of  the  older  order.  For  many  centuries  her 
sanctuary  was  the  only  refuge  and  her  voice  the  only 
authority  strong  enough  to  enforce  obedience.  But  un- 
der slavery,  her  temples  were  patronized  and  her  priest- 
hood supported  by  the  masters,  and  the  priesthood  bid 
the  slave  be  content  and  to  submit.  Under  serfdom,  the 
place  of  worship  was  at  the  mercy  of  the  lords,  and 
the  master  at  the  altar  bid  the  master  of  spear  and 
lance  to  treat  the  rebellious  serfs  "like  mad  dogs." 
Under  the  wage  system  the  form  of  the  church  has 
largely  changed  with  the  form  of  industrial  organiza- 
tion. The  reformation  of  the  church  everywhere  ac- 
companied the  collapse  of  feudalism.11 

541.  The  Unity  of  All  Nature.— The  developments 
of  modern  life  have  separated  the  professions  of  law, 
medicine  and  of  the  teacher  from  the  priesthood.  The 
marvelous  modern  developments  in  invention  and  com- 
merce have  been  accompanied  by  the  microscope,  the 
telescope,  the  library  and  the  laboratory.  The  contra- 
dictions in  nature,  which  made  difficult  the  belief  in  a 
single  universal  life  in  all  things,  with  a  common  life 
purpose  running  through  all  things,  have  been  studied 
in  the  presence  of  the  new  worlds  which  these  instru- 
ments have  revealed.  Under  scientific  tests  which  men 

11.  'To  trace  the  influence  of  the  spiritual  life  in  individual  and 
social  development  would  be  as  easy  as  it  is  unnecessary.  What  is 
generally  forgotten,  however,  and  what  it  is  needful  to  emphasize  again 
and  again,  is  not  only  that  the  content  of  the  conception  of  morality 
is  a  social  product,  but  also  that  amid  the  complex  social  influences  that 
co-operated  to  produce  it,  the  economic  factors  have  often  been  of 
chief  significance — that  pure  ethical  or  religious  idealism  has  made  itself 
felt  only  within  the  limitations  of  existing  economic  conditions.  The 
material,  as  we  have  seen,  has  almost  always  preceded  the  ethical. 
Individual  actions,  like  social  actions,  possessed  a  material  significance 
long  before  they  acquired  an  ethical  meaning.  *  *  *  Since  the  mate- 
rial precedes  the  ethical,  it  will  not  surprise  us  to  learn  that  the  mate- 
rial conditions  of  society — that  is,  in  the  widest  sense,  the  economic 
conditions — continually  modify  the  content  of  the  ethical  conception. 
Men  are  what  conditions  make  them,  and  ethical  ideals  are  not 
exempt  from  the  same  inexorable  law  of  environment." — Seligman:  The 
Economic  Interpretation  of  History,  pp.  126  *  *  *  28. 


CHAP.  XXX  RELIGION  AND  SOCIALISM  411 

"have  seen  with  their  eyes  and  handled  with  their 
hands/'  the  unity  of  all  nature  has  been  established. 
It  is  no  longer  thought  by  anyone  of  learning  that  one 
law  rules  over  things  which  gladden  the  world  and  an- 
other law  over  the  things  of  bitterness  and  disaster.  It 
is  now  known  that  this  earth  i '  is  not  a  kingdom  divided 
against  itself. ' '  Its  laws  are  known  to  be  unchanging, 
unfailing,  all-powerful  and  everywhere  and  always 
present.  Obedience  to  the  laws  which  so  encompass 
and  control  all  life  is  everywhere  proclaimed  as  the  law 
of  life. 

542.  The  Highest  Religion.— The  inventor,  the  dis- 
coverer, the  builder,  the  artist,  the  artisan,  the  moral- 
ist, the  statesman  and  the  law-giver  are  alike  helpless 
except  as  they  learn  and  obey  these  laws.     Eeligion 
is  meaningless  except  as  it  is  grounded  in  them  and  is 
the  interpretation  of  them.    Whoever  learns  and  tells 
again  great  nature 's  secrets  is  her  priest,12  and  whoever 
is  able  to  give  her  the  service  of  his  life,  in  obedience 
to  her  laws,  is  the  certain  recipient  of  her  gifts  in  the 
same  abundance  as  is  his  service.13 

543.  The  Order  of  Advance.— When,  in  his  infancy 
and  his  ignorance,  man  worshipped  each  separate  ob- 
ject which  lay  about  him,  he  was  his  own  teacher,  priest 
and  king.    When  organization  came  and  men  worked 
and  fought  in  groups  for  the  mastery  over  other  men, 
the  gods  were  thought  to  be  in  groups  and  the  tribes 
gave  "to  the  great  medicine  man"  of  the  time  the  in- 
termediary duties  of  keeping  the  peace  between  gods 

12.  "A  war  hero  supposes  a  barbarous  condition  of  the  race;  and 
when  all  shall  be  civilized,  they  who  know  and  love  the  most  shall  be 
be  held  to  be  the  greatest  and  the  best." — Bishop  Spaulding:     Education 
and  the  Higher  Life,  p.  171. 

13.  "For  the  conservation  and  perfection  of  social  relations,  and 
for  the  realization  of  ideals,  the  social  mind  creates  institutions.    *    *    * 
Institutions  react  for  good  or  ill  upon  all  social  functions,  and  especially 
upon  the  supreme  social  function,  the  development  of  personality." — 
Giddings :     Theory  of  Socialization,  Syllabus,  p.  33. 


412  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PAST  V 

and  men— but  woe  to  the  priest  who  "  prophesied  not 
good  things  for  my  lord. ' ' 

When  slavery  and  war  possessed  the  earth,  the  forms 
of  religion  conformed  to  the  new  forms  of  the  industrial 
life,  and  the  master  of  the  slave  camp  was  master  of 
the  altar  as  well  as  commander  of  the  armies. 

When  serfdom  came,  the  lords  of  the  castle  and  of 
the  cathedral  had  their  interests  in  common  and  against 
the  serfs.  When  the  wage  system  came,  the  ecclesias- 
tical forms  shifted  to  again  suit  the  limited  democracy 
of  early  capitalism  and  now  again  both  school  and 
church  conform  to  the  necessities  of  most  modern  plu- 
tocracy.14 

14.  "Thus  the  economic  interpretation  of  history,  correctly  under- 
stood, does  not  in  the  least  seek  to  deny  or  to  minimize  the  importance  of 
ethical  and  spiritual  forces  in  history.  It  only  emphasizes  the  domain 
within  which  the  ethical  forces  can  at  any  particular  time  act  with 
success.  To  sound  the  praises  of  mercy  and  love  to  a  band  of  marauding 
savages  would  be  futile;  but  when  the  old  conditions  of  warfare  are  no 
longer  really  needed  for  self-defense,  the  moral  teacher  can  do  a  great 
work  in  introducing  more  civilized  practices,  which  shall  be  in  harmony 
with  the  real  needs  of  the  new  society.  It  is  always  on  the  border  line 
of  the  transition  from  the  old  social  necessity  to  the  new  social  conve- 
nience that  the  ethical  reformer  makes  his  influence  felt.  With  the  per- 
petual change  in  human  conditions  there  is  always  some  kind  of  a 
border  line,  and  thus  always  the  need  of  the  moral  teacher,  to  point 
out  the  higher  ideal  and  the  path  of  progress.  Unless  the  social  con- 
ditions, however,  are  ripe  for  the  change,  the  demand  of  the  ethical 
reformer  will  be  fruitless.  Only  if  the  conditions  are  ripe  will  the  re- 
form be  effected. 

"The  moral  ideals  are  thus  continually  in  the  forefront  of  the 
contest  for  progress.  The  ethical  teacher  is  the  scout  and  the  van- 
guard of  society;  but  he  will  be  followed  only  if  he  enjoys  the  confi- 
dence of  the  people,  and  the  real  battle  will  be  fought  by  the  main  body 
of  social  forces,  amid  which  the  economic  conditions  are  in  last  resort 
so  often  decisive.  There  is  a  moral  growth  in  society,  as  well  as  in 
the  individual.  The  more  civilized  the  society,  the  more  ethical  its 
mode  of  life.  But  to  become  more  civilized,  to  permit  the  moral  ideals 
to  percolate  through  continually  lower  strata  of  the  population,  we  must 
have  an  economic  basis  to  render  it  possible.  With  every  improvement 
in  the  material  condition  of  the  great  mass  of  the  population  there  will 
be  an  opportunity  for  the  unfolding  of  a  higher  moral  life;  but  not  un- 
til the  economic  conditions  of  society  become  far  more  ideal  will 
the  ethical  development  of  the  individual  have  a  free  field  for  limitless 
progress.  Only  then  will  it  be  possible  to  neglect  the  economic  factor, 
which  may  thenceforward  be  considered  as  a  constant;  only  then  will 
the  economic  interpretation  of  history  become  a  matter  for  archaeolo- 
gists rather  than  for  historians." — Seligman:  The  Economic  Inter- 
pretation of  History,  pp.  130-2.  See  Chapter  II. 


CHAP.  XXX  RELIGION  AND  SOCIALISM  413 

544.  Capitalism  and  Religion— The  Right  to  Think. 
—Man  is  the  animal  that  thinks.    Under  capitalism,  it 
is  propsed  that  he  shall  think  along  only  such  lines  as 
will  forever  lead  him  to  give  up  the  products  of  his 
unpaid  labor  for  the  free  use  of  those  who  labor  not 
.and  then  only  do  such  thinking  as  he  can  while  ex- 
hausting all  the  physical  powers  of  his  life  in  produc- 
ing wealth  which  he  cannot  have  for  his  own  or  his 
family's  use. 

545.  Capitalism  limits  the  activity  of  the  religious 
instincts  to  nights  and  Sundays  for  those  who  toil  and 
then  provides  for  them,  if  at  all,  under  conditions 
where,  poorly  fed,  poorly  clothed  and  outworn  with 
toil,  the  worker  and  worshipper  is  made  to  feel  the 
humiliation  of  his  helpless  dependence,  even  more  bit- 
terly at  the  altar  than  at  the  workshop.    Is  it  any  won- 
der that  religion  plays  so  small  a  part  in  the  life  of 
the  average  workingman?15 

546.  The  Mastery  of  Wealth.— This  modern  plu- 
tocracy rules  the  church  not  so  much  by  purposely  cor- 
rupting the  church  as  because  the  church  is  dependent 
for  its  support  on  the  few  who  are  able  to  support  her, 
but  will  do  so  only  so  long  as  the  service  of  the  church 
is  consistent  with  the  economic  interests  of  the  mas- 
ters.16 

In  spite  of  itself  the  modern  church  is  a  respecter  of 
persons.  In  spite  of  itself  its  message  and  its  service 
is  made  to  serve  mankind  so  far  only  as  is  possible 
with  no  offense  to  those  who  with  one  hand  rob  the 
race  and  with  the  other  support  and  control  the 
agencies  supposed  to  exist  for  the  special  service  of 
the  poor. 

547.  The  Religious  Teacher  and  His  Training.— Not 

15.  "We  must  first  secure  a  livelihood  and  then  practice  virtue."— 
Aristotle,  quoted  by  Hobson:     Imperialism,  p.  97. 

16.  "All  for  ourselves  and  nothing  for  other  people  seems  in  every 
age  of  the  world  to  have  been  the  vile  maxim  of  the  masters  of  man- 
kind.'— Adam  Smith;  quoted  by  Davidson:    Annals  of  Toil,  p.  112. 


414  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

only  is  the  church  dependent  on  the  masters  for  its 
support,  but  the  pastors  and  teachers  are  largely  edu- 
cated at  the  expense  of  these  same  masters,  and  while 
the  highest  motives  may  suggest  these  expenditures 
and  no  pressure  of  any  conscious  sort  be  exerted  by  the 
benefactor  of  these  schools,  it  is  impossible  for  teach- 
ers of  religion  to  come  to  their  positions  as  teachers  at 
the  expense  of  these  masters  of  the  market  and  not  be 
strongly,  if  unconsciously,  influenced  to  look  with  mild 
censure,  if  not  approval  on  the  crimes  of  the  market 
which  have  made  possible  the  endowment  of  the 
schools. 

548.  Work    and    Worship.— Work    and    worship 
cannot  be  characteristic  of  the  common  life  so  long  as 
great  wealth  delivers  the  few  from  the  responsibility  of 
self-support  and  drives  the  many  to  overwork,  to  long 
hours,  to  evil  associations,  to  unsanitary  conditions,  to 
ignorance  and  to  the  conscious  bearing  of  great  wrongs 
at  the  hands  of  the  very  people  whom  the  church  "de- 
lights to  honor. ' ' 

549.  The  Slaughter  of  Intelligence.— Intelligence, 
not  ignorance,  is  the  handmaid  of  religion.    The  really 
religious  are  ruled  by  their  understanding,  not  by  their 
superstitions.     Prejudice  is  not  piety.    A  refusal  to 
think  is  no  proof  of  holiness.    Inability  to  think  is  in- 
ability to  worship.    No  other  thing  in  the  life  of  the 
race  has  so  smitten  the  common  life  with  personal  de- 
pendence and  mental  helplessness  as  modern  capital- 
ism in  its  most  modern  form.    Its  attack  on  the  intelli- 
gence and  self-possession  of  the  common  people  is  most 
•destructive  of  any  rational  faith.    It  is  itself  the  very 
essence  of  irreligion. 

550.  Socialism  and  Religion.— Socialists  make  no 
attack  on  religion.  They  make  no  attack  on  the  church. 
The  Socialists'  proposals  are  the  only  economic  pro- 
posals ever  made  not  in  outright  violation  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  religion. 

551.  Religious    Convictions   a   Private   Matter.— 


CHAP.  XXX  RELIGION  AND  SOCIALISM  415 

While  the  Socialists  contend  that  religion  is  a  private 
matter  with  which  it  is  not  their  purpose  in  any  way 
to  interfere,  nevertheless  the  proposals  of  the  Socialists 
will  deliver  society  from  many  things  which  are  in- 
herent in  capitalism  and  are  the  greatest  foes  of  re- 
ligion. Mastery  and  servitude  are  forbidden  by  reli- 
gion. They  are  inherent  in  capitalism.  They  will  be 
impossible  under  Socialism. 

552.  Brotherhood.— Brotherhood  is  commanded  by 
religion.    It  is  impossible  under  capitalism.17   It  will  be 
inevitable  under  Socialism.    When  men  cease  to  rob 
each  other  in  the  market  they  will  enter  easily  and 
surely  into  the  natural  relations  of  real  brothers.    Jus- 
tice between  man  and  man  is  commanded  by  religion. 
Capitalism  cannot  exist  without  injustice.    Its  maxim 
is  "  Every  man  for  himself. "    The  struggle  for  Social- 
ism is  a  struggle  for  justice  in  economic  relations.18 

553.  Supporting  the  Church.— The   church  builds 
her  cathedrals  and  palaces  and  extends  her  enterprises 
to  the  ends  of  the  earth.    But  her  most  splendid  archi- 
tecture is  but  a  makeshift  and  her  world-wide  enter- 
prises a  small  affair  as  compared  with  what  the  willing 
hands  of  willing  workers  would  do  for  the  churches  of 
their  choice  were  the  poor,  who  even  now  so  largely 
support  the  churches  which  the  masters  so  largely  rule, 

17.  "Our   national    religion    is    the    performance    of    church   cere- 
monies, and  preaching  of  soporific  truths    (or  untruths)   to  keep  the 
mob  quietly  at  work  while  we  amuse  ourselves." — Ruskin,  quoted  by 
Kidd:     Social  Evolution,  p.  89. 

"No  individual  competitor  can  lay  down  the  rules  of  the  combat. 
No  individual  can  safely  choose  the  higher  plane  so  long  as  his  oppo- 
nent is  at  liberty  to  fight  on  a  lower." — Webb :  Problems  of  Modern  In- 
dustry, p.  249. 

18.  "How  far  is  it  possible  to  open  up  to  all  the  material  means 
of  a  refined  and  noble  life  ?    *    *    *    Much  has  been  said  of  the  physical 
sufferings   and  ill-health   caused  by   over-crowded   dwellings,   but   the 
mental  and  moral  ill-health  due  to  them  are  greater  evils  still.    With 
better  house  room  and  better  food,  with  less  hard  work  and  more  leisure, 
the  great  mass  of  our  people  would  have  the  power  of  leading  a  life 
quite  unlike  that  which  they  must  lead  now,  a  life  far  higher  and  far 
more  noble." — Marshall :    Present  Position  of  Economics,  pp.  54-7. 


416  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

once  given  for  their  own  disposal  the  total  products  of 
their  toil. 

554.  Boundless  Opportunity.— Under  Socialism  the 
library,  the  laboratory,  the  university,  the  service  of 
the  church  the  opportunity  to  study  and  to  understand 
and  that  for  all  the  years  of  youth  and  for  long  hours  of 
every  day  throughout  one's  lifetime,  without  the  cor- 
ruption of  mastery  or  the  humiliation  of  servitude  of 
any  form  will  at  last  be  realized  for  all. 

555.  Summary.— 1.    Capitalism  is  the  foe  of  reli- 
gion.   This  is  true  for  the  following  reasons: 

(a)  It  enforces  mastery  and  servitude  in  violation 
of  the  requirements  of  brotherhood. 

(b)  It  makes  inevitable  such  ignorance  and  dis- 
order among  its  victims  as  makes  most  difficult  if  not 
impossible  any  rational  religious  activity. 

(c)  It  robs  the  masses  of  both  time  and  strength  for 
religious  duties. 

(d)  It  corrupts  morals  by  enforcing  in  the  shop  and 
market  business  maxims  utterly  at  variance  with  the 
precepts  of  all  the  great  religions. 

(e)  It  corrupts  the  life  of  the  people  by  making  the 
livelihood  of  the  teachers  of  religion  depend  on  the 
good  will  of  those  whose  personal  profits  depend  upon 
the  betrayal  of  the  common  good. 

2.  Socialism  is  neither  religious  nor  irreligious,  but 
it  will  in  no  way  interfere  with  the  religion  of  any, 
while  it  will  bring  about  such  conditions  in  the  shop 
and  market  as  will  make  possible  the  greatest  religious 
activity  of  all  those  who  choose  to  be  religious.  This  is 
true  for  the  following  reasons : 

(a)  It  will  abolish  mastery  and  servitude  in  the 
shop  and  market;  the  betrayal  of  a  brother  for  the  sake 
of  a  living  will  never  again  be  necessary. 

(b)  Involuntary  ignorance  and  the  resulting  con- 
ditions of  disorder  will  disappear. 


CHAP.  XXX  RELIGION  AND  SOCIALISM  417 

(c)  There  will  be  time  and  strength  for  all  for  any 
desirable  undertaking  aside  from  earning  a  living. 
There  will  be  time  and  strength  for  religious  purposes. 

(d)  All  men  will  earn  their  living  under  a  system 
which  will  not  itself  exist  in  violation  of  the  precepts 
of  religion. 

(e)  No  teacher  of  religion  will  need  to  be  the  per- 
sonal dependent  of  those  more  fortunate  than  himself. 

(f)  The  resources  of  all  the  people  will  be  sufficient 
to  enable  them  at  once  to  abolish  the  religious  beggar 
and,  from  ample  stores,  provide  for  all  the  needs  of 
the  most  ambitious  undertakings  of  the  church. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  was  the  original  meaning  of  the  word  man?     What  is 
meant  by  instinct  ?    What  is  thought  to  be  the  origin  of  the  instincts  ? 

2.  What  was  man's  first  guide  and  why  was  he,  by  his  instincts, 
at  war  with  his  surroundings? 

3.  What  is  thinking?    What  was  man's  first  general  classification 
of  the  things  he  compared?     Why  do  you  think  so? 

4.  Why  should  he  think  all  moving  things  to  be  alive?    What  did 
he  first  worship?    WThy  would  he  do  so? 

5.  What  was  the  first  advance  in  religion?     By  what  process  did 
men  pass  from  worship  of  the  things  to  the  worship  of  the  masters  of 
things  ? 

6.  Why  was  the  passage  from  the  worship  of  many  gods  to  the 
worship  of  one  God  hard  to  make?     In  what  way  did  men  account 
for  the  seeming  contradictions  in  nature  after  accepting  the  belief  in  one 
God? 

7.  While  fetishism,  the  worship  of  things,  was  the  prevailing  relig- 
ion, what  about  the  forms  of  social  organization? 

8.  In  what  way  was  religion  changed  when  men  had  come  to  live 
in  organized  tribes  and  to  have  chiefs  among  them? 

9.  In  what  way  was  the  worship  of  many  gods  related  to  slavery? 

10.  When  the  absolutism  of  the  Roman  military  government  had 
been  established,  what  change  took  place  in  the  worship  of  the  gods? 
Why  could  not  the  change  have  taken  place  before? 

11.  What  happened  to  the  church  everywhere  on  the  collapse  of 
feudalism  ? 

12.  Name  some  of  the  great  services  which  ecclesiastical  organiza- 
tions have  rendered  to  society. 

13.  When    did    the    leisure    class    and    the    priestly    orders    first 
appear  ? 

14.  When  slavery  and  war  everywhere  divided  the  world  between 
soldiers  and  slaves,  to  which  side  did  the  priest  of  the  ancient  religions 
belong? 

15.  How  was  the  unity  of  all  nature  at  last  established?     What 
now  is  known  to  be  the  law  of  life? 

16.  In  what  ways  does  capitalism  affect  the  church? 

17.  Why  and  how  will  Socialism  greatly  benefit  religion? 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

EDUCATION  AND  SOCIALISM 

556.  The  Old  Education.— Education  may  be  said 
to  be  the  discovery  and  application  of  those  laws  of  life 
which  make  for  man's  improvement.1 

Under  the  old  order  of  things  the  education  of  man 
was  a  priestly  function.  The  priesthood  taught  the 
slaves  submission,  taught  the  soldier  obedience,  and  ex- 
plained their  relations  of  dependence  and  all  misery 
as  the  divine  order  of  things,  bitter  to  endure,  but  nec- 
essary in  order  to  escape  greater  woes  in  this  life  or  for 
man 's  probation  and  training  for  the  world  to  come. 

557.  The  Business  Education.— In  the  separation  of 
education  from  the  functions  of  the  church,  the  rise  of 
modern  capitalism  was  the  chief  factor.2    The  idea  of 

1.  "The  ideal  of  the  Prussian  National  System  is  given  shortly  as 
'the  harmonious  and  equitable  evolution  of  the  human  powers';  at  more 
length,  in  the  words  of  Stein,  'by  a  method  based  on  the  nature  of  the 
mind,  every  power  of  the  soul  to  be  unfolded,  every  crude  principle  of 
life  stirred  up  and  nourished,  all  one-sided  culture  avoided,  and  the 
impulses   on   which   the   strength   and   worth  of  men  rests,   carefully 
attended  to." — Bain:     Education  as  a  Science,  p.   1;  and  Donaldson: 
Lectures  on  Education,  p.  38. 

2.  "Education  did  not  have  a  complete  and  beautiful  development. 
It  was  unworthily  enslaved  to  other  interests,  and  both  in  theory  and 

418 


CHAP.  XXXI  EDUCATION  AND  SOCIALISM  419 

an  improved  man  by  the  process  of  general  education 
which  was  characteristic  of  the  old  education  has  been 
greatly  modified  by  the  demand  for  such  special  train- 
ing as  will  best  prepare  the  student  for  such  a  business 
career. 

558.  The  New  Education.— The  most  modern  edu- 
cational movement,  commonly  mentioned  as  "The  New 
Education,"  is  an  effort,  with  the  equipment  which 
modern  science  has  provided,  to  once  more  return  to 
the  old  idea  that  the  purpose  of  education  shall  be  to 
produce  the  greatest  strength  of  mind,  body,  character, 
or,  in  other  words,  to  improve  the  life  and  add  to  its 
naturalness  and  its  joy.3 

559.  A  Better  Market  or  a  Better  Life.— But  the 
new  educator  is  not  unlike  the  old  priest  in  at  least  the 
one  particular  that  the  school  is  as  completely  under 
the  control  of  whatever  is  most  dominant  in  society  as 


practice  it  showed  its  servile  condition." — Painter:  History  of  Educa- 
tion, p.  117,  Chapter  "Education  Before  the  Reformation." 

3.  "So  that  while  the  child's  first  right  and  first  duty  is  to  adjust 
himself  physiologically  to  his  environment,  to  learn  to  walk,  to  use 
his  hands  and  to  feed  himself,  to  be  physically  independent,  there  still 
remains  the  great  outer  circle  of  education  or  culture,  without  contact 
with  which  no  human  being  is  really  either  man  or  woman." — President 
Butler:  The  Meaning  of  Education,  pp.  13-14. 

"The  aim  of  education  is  to  prepare  for  complete  living.  To 
live  completely  means  to  be  as  useful  as  possible  and  to  be  happy. 
By  usefulness  is  meant  service,  i.  e.,  any  activity  which  promotes  the 
material  or  the  spiritual  interests  of  mankind,  one  or  both.  To  be 
happy  one  must  enjoy  both  his  work  and  his  leisure." — Harris:  Educa- 
tional Aims  and  Educational  Values,  p.  5. 

"Too  many  of  us  think  of  education  for  the  people  as  if  it  meant 
only  learning  to  read,  write  and  cipher.  Now,  reading,  writing  and 
simple  ciphering  are  merely  the  tools  by  the  diligent  use  of  which  a 
rational  education  is  to  be  obtained  through  years  of  well-directed  labor. 
Under  any  civilized  form  of  government,  these  arts  ought  to  be  acquired 
by  every  child  by  the  time  it  is  nine  years  of  age.  H  *  *  Moreover, 
the  fundamental  object  of  democratic  education — to  lift  the  whole 
population  to  a  higher  plane  of  intelligence,  conduct  and  happiness — 
has  not  yet  been  apprehended  in  the  United  States.  Too  many  of  our 
own  p«ople  think  of  popular  education  as  if  it  were  only  a  protection 
against  dangerous  superstitions,  a  measure  of  police,  or  a  means  of  in- 
creasing the  national  productiveness  in  the  arts  and  trades." — Eliot: 
Educational  Reforms,  pp.  401-3. 


420  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

was  ever  the  church  itself.  The  class  struggle  is  no- 
where more  evident  than  in  the  conflict  going  on  be- 
tween the  educators.  One  class  of  teachers  view  the 
problem  from  the  necessities  of  the  people  under  capi- 
talism. Another  class  of  teachers  view  the  problem  from 
the  needs  of  a  full,  free  human  life,  regardless  as  to 
whether  or  not  capitalism  is  to  remain.  The  victims  of 
exploitation  ask  for  such  training  in  the  school  as 
will  enable  them  to  add  to  their  earning  power.4  They 
ask  that  the  public  school  shall  be  a  training  school 
preparatory  to  entering  the  shop  or  the  market  as  wage 
workers.  The  exploiters,  on  the  other  hand,  demand 
that  the  public  school  shall  be  a  training  school  for  ser- 
vants; the  technical  school  must  provide  superintend- 
ents; the  manual  training  school  must  provide  more 
capable  workmen;  the  public  school  generally,  better 
clerks ;  the  industrial  schools  better  house  servants  and 
domestics,  and  at  every  point  the  school  must  exalt 
those  who  succeed  and  must  sneer  at  those  who  fail, 
regardless  of  the  fact  that  success  may  be  the  fruits  of 
villainy  and  failure  come  because  the  bankrupt  could 
not  bring  himself  to  be  a  thief.  The  student  of  educa- 
tion studying  the  laws  of  human  life,  striving  to  pro- 
duce personal  strength  and  personal  character  and  to 
lay  the  foundation  for  a  full  and  glad  existence,  re- 
sents the  subordination  and  subjection  of  the  school 
as  preparatory  to  the  despotism  of  the  private  shop 
and  discovers,  greatly  to  his  disappointment,  that  just 
in  proportion  as  his  work  is  well  done  in  the  school 
the  student  is  spoiled  for  the  demands  of  the  market. 
560.  Breaking  With  Ideals  to  Hold  Employment.  - 

4.  "Where  the  public  school  term  in  the  United  States  is  longest, 
there  the  average  productive  capacity  of  the  citizen  is  greatest.  This 
can  hardly  be  a  coincidence.  When  the  man  of  science  finds  such  a  coin- 
cidence as  this  in  his  test  tube  or  balance,  he  proclaims  it  as  a  scientific 
discovery  proved  by  inductive  science." — Butler:  Education  in  the 
United  States,  Vol.  1;  Introduction,  p.  13. 


CHAP.  XXXI  EDUCATION  AND  SOCIALISM  421 

A  principal  in  one  of  the  great  public  schools  in  Chi- 
cago, with  many  years  of  experience,  stated  to  the 
writer  that  it  was  not  an  infrequent  occurrence  that 
young  men  and  women,  trained  in  the  public  schools, 
after  securing  employment  in  the  shops  or  stores,  re- 
turn to  their  teachers  for  consolation  and  guidance,  and 
that  it  was  the  universal  testimony  of  these  young  peo- 
ple that  they  were  able  to  make  themselves  useful  to 
their  employers  only  by  the  abandonment  of  the  ideals 
which  had  been  cherished  in  the  schools.  It  is  a  prin- 
ciple in  education  that  that  which  one  learns  to  do  with- 
out the  conscious  effort  to  do  so,  which  naturally  takes 
possession  of  one  through  contact  with  it,  is  the  thing 
which  is  most  effectively  learned  and  which  influences 
the  life  of  the  learner  in  the  most  marked  degree.  There 
is  nothing  more  remarkable  than  the  contrast  between 
the  effort  of  the  school  to  ennoble  and  enrich  the  life 
of  the  people  and  the  ruthless  slaughter  of  their  ideals 
in  the  shop  and  the  market  place.  Between  the  ex- 
ploited working  people  on  the  one  hand,  pleading  for 
an  opportunity  to  secure  such  training  for  their  chil- 
dren as  will  make  them  more  marketable,  and  the  em- 
ployer on  the  other  hand,  demanding  such  training  as 
will  multiply  the  number  of  those  from  whom  he  is  to 
select  the  well-trained  workers  whom  he  shall  choose  to 
employ,  the  real  educator  finds  himself  practically 
without  a  hearing. 

561.  The  Clash  Between  the  Market  and  the  Schools. 
—President  G.  Stanley  Hall,  of  Clark  University,  re- 
cently read  a  paper  before  the  National  Educational 
Association,  at  its  meeting  in  Detroit,  addressed  to  a 
special  session  of  college  presidents,  in  which  he  con- 
tended, in  substance,  that  the  business  world  has  no 
place  for  the  highest  product  of  the  worthiest  schools. 
Col.  Francis  Parker,  who  was  then  living  and  present; 
Dr.  Harris,  National  Commissioner  of  Education;  Presi- 


422  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

dent  Harper,  of  the  University  of  Chicago;  President 
Hadley,  of  Yale,  and  President  Eliot,  of  Harvard,  all 
of  whom  were  present,  did  not  dispute  the  position 
which  had  been  taken,  and  practically  agreed  with  the 
comment  of  Col.  Francis  Parker,  that  the  position  taken 
by  Dr.  Hall  was  simply  a  statement  of  what  all  edu- 
cators realized  to  be  true.  He  further  stated  that  this 
is  a  question  which  is  easy  to  state,  but  for  which  he,  at 
least,  had  been  unable  to  satisfy  himself  with  any  an- 
swer he  had  been  able  to  make  as  to  a  way  out.  These 
distinguished  educators  were  unable  to  find  a  way  out 
because,  as  long  as  capitalism  remains  the  dominant 
factor  in  our  modern  life,  there  is  no  way  out. 

562.  Training  Masters  and  Servants.— Making  a 
living  is  the  absorbing  business  of  most  people ;  making 
a  fortune  is  the  equally  absorbing  problem  of  the  few. 
These  fortunes  are  made  at  the  expense  of  those  who 
are  doomed  to  live  lives  devoted  solely  to  toil  in  order 
that  they  may  live  at  all.    Between  these  two  classes 
the  few  rich  and  the  many  poor,  the  relations  of  mas- 
tery and  servitude  must  last  as  long  as  capitalism  re- 
mains.   And  so  long  as  the  school  is  under  the  domina- 
tion of  masters  and  servants,  so  long  as  the  business  of 
life  is  either  doing  the  work  of  a  servant  or  exercising 
the  authority  of  a  master,  so  long  the  school  must  an- 
swer to  these  most  dominant  influences  in  society,— 
so  long  must  the  school  produce  masters  and  servants, 
or  it  must  find  itself  out  of  touch  with  the  established 
order  of  things. 

563.  Corrupting  the  Schools.— Among  the  things 
which  exist   in    society   which   must    challenge  most 
strongly  the  attention  of  the  children  and  the  influence 
of  which  is  felt  throughout  the  schools,  is  the  great 
power  of  wealth  the  great  helplessness  of  poverty  and 
the  pitiless  humiliation  of  the  poor  man's  child.    The 
inevitable  discrimination  against  the  poor  as  they  ap^ 


CHAP.  XXXI  EDUCATION  AND  SOCIALISM  423 

proach  the  higher  grades  in  the  public  schools,5  is  not 
only  pathetic,  because  of  its  cruelty,  but  it  is  most  dan- 
gerous to  public  morals  in  consideration  of  the  common 
knowledge  that  great  wealth  is  so  frequently  associated 
with  great  rascality.  It  unavoidably  exalts  to  the  high- 
est positions  in  the  mind  of  the  child,  not  those  of  the 
highest  attainments,  or  of  the  worthiest  character,  not 
those  who  have  best  served  society,  not  those  who  have 
attained  to  the  ideals  which  the  schools  attempt  to 
cherish,6  but  instead  those  who  have  betrayed  society, 
who  have  grossly  abandoned  the  highest  purposes  and 
brutally  robbed  the  helpless  under  the  protection  of 
law.  These  are  object  lessons  which  every  child  meets 
upon  the  playground,  and  every  such  act  of  contempt 
for  poverty  and  of  deference  to  wealth  is  acting  pow- 
erfully to  corrupt  the  childhood  of  the  race.7 

564.  Falsifying  Text  Books.— But  this  is  not  all ;  the 
very  text  books  are  filled  with  examples  which  do  not 
fix  the  attention  of  the  learner  on  the  real  problems  of 
real  life,  but  instead  on  the  calculations  of  the  profits 
of  the  speculators,  of  the  losses  of  unfortunate  invest- 
ments, of  the  gains  of  investors,  as  if  investment  for 
profit  was  a  natural  and  necessary  act  and  the  relations 

5.  "Most  systems  of  education  seem  designed  exclusively  for  the 
sons  of  wealthy  gentry,  who  are  supposed  to  have  nothing  else  to  do  in 
life  but  seek  the  highest  culture  in  the  most  approved  and  fashionable 
ways." — Ward:     Dynamic  Sociology,  Vol.  II.,  p.  629. 

6.  "The  mark  of  a  barbarian  is  not  the  language  he  speaks  nor 
the  deity  he  worships.    It  is  his  rude  intellectual  development,  his  nar- 
row range  of  views,  his  rough  treatment  of  others.     Everything  that 
distinguishes  a  savage  from  a  civilized  man  can  be  directly  or  indirectly 
traced  to  the  differences  of  education." — Ward:     Dynamic  Sociology, 
Vo.  II.,  p.  593. 

7.  The  present  enormous   chasm   between  the  ignorant   and  the 
intelligent,  caused  by  the  unequal  distribution  of  knowledge,  is  the 
worst  evil  under  which  society  labors. 

"This  is  because  it  places  it  in  the  power  of  a  small  number,  having 
no  great  natural  capacity,  and  no  natural  right  or  title,  to  seek  their 
happiness  at  the  expense  of  a  large  number.  The  large  number,  deprived 
of  the  means  of  intelligence,  though  born  with  a  capacity  for  it,  are 
really  compelled  by  the  small  number,  through  the  exercise  of  a  superior 
intelligence,  to  serve  them  without  compensation." — Ward:  Dynamic 
Sociology,  Vol.  II.,  p.  602. 


424  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

between  gamblers  and  their  victims  on  boards  of  trade 
the  great  relationships  of  life.  The  reading  lessons 
glorify  the  subordination  of  servants,  reflect  upon  labor 
organizations,  and  worst  of  all,  .plainly  misstate  the 
facts  of  American  history.  All  these  abuses  are  inci- 
dental to  the  existence  of  capitalism.  They  are  in- 
stances of  a  direct  effort  to  mislead  and  corrupt  the 
youth  in  the  name  of  education  and  in  behalf  of  the 
masters.8 

A  United  States  history  widely  used  in  the  public 
schools  directly  states  that  Socialism  was  tried  at 
Jametsown,  was  proven  a  failure  and  abandoned  be- 
cause found  to  be  impracticable.  How  false  such  a 
statement  is  does  not  need  to  be  argued  in  this  con- 
nection further  than  to  say  that  what  took  place  at 
Jamestown  was  the  following: 

When  a  group  of  adventurers  from  the  idle  classes 
of  England  were  on  the  point  of  starvation,  a  military 
master  required  all  to  go  to  work  or  stop  eating.  The 
day's  work  required  was  a  six-hour  day,  a  fact  deliber- 
ately suppressed  in  the  school  histories.  In  a  single 
season  with  this  short  day,  with  workers  not  before  ac- 
customed to  toil,  the  colony  was  saved  from  outright 
ruin.  The  temporary  relief  secured  by  this  military  or- 
ganization of  industry  was  not  Socialism.  There  was 
no  collectivism,  no  democracy  nor  equality.  There  was 
no  triumph  of  the  working  class  over  their  exploiters. 
There  was  no  abolition  of  mastery  and  servitude.  The 
instance  has  but  little  value  except  as  showing  that 
even  the  bosses  will  go  to  work  rather  than  go  hungry. 
The  industrial  development  which  makes  Socialism 

8.  "The  final  result  of  exclusive  reliance  upon  private  benefactions 
for  any  phase  or  grade  of  education  will  be  that  the  instruction  provided 
will  not  only  reflect  the  interests  of  a  class,  but  will  be  confined  to  a 
class.  This  is  no  place  to  discuss  the  far-reaching  consequences  of  such 
tendencies.  To  say  they  are  not  in  harmony  with  the  ideal  of  demo- 
cratic civilization  is  to  express  but  mildly  a  great  truth." — Adams; 
Finance,  pp.  71-& 


CHAP.  XXXI  EDUCATION  AND  SOCIALISM  425 

possible  had  not  then  taken  place.  There  is  not  a 
United  States  history,  so  far  as  known  to  the  writer, 
used  in  the  American  public  schools  which  makes  any 
allusion  to  the  treason  of  Northern  capitalists  in  at- 
tempting to  throttle  the  government  under  the  adminis- 
tration of  Mr.  Lincoln,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Civil 
War.  They  nowhere  point  out  the  economic  causes 
which  are  fundamental  in  the  study  of  any  historical 
problem.  These  school  histories  simply  glorify  a  series 
of  political  and  military  accidents  intended  to  make  the 
student  the  worshipper  of  commercial  and  military 
masters,  while  leaving  them  in  ignorance  of  the  real 
causes  of  the  events  discussed. 

585.  The  Factory  Child  and  the  Public  School.  - 
Capitalism  takes  the  children  from  the  schools  and 
turns  them  over  to  the  factories  before  their  bodies  are 
sufficiently  grown  to  endure  the  strain  of  the  tasks 
which  are  given  them  and  before  it  is  possible  that  their 
minds  should  be  sufficiently  informed  to  make  them 
worthy  citizen,9  and  then  the  politician,  representing 
capitalism,  disfranchises  the  men,  grown  from  these 
very. children,  because  illiterate.  Capitalism  robs  the 
childhood  of  the  country  of  the  play  time  of  its  youth, 
or  if  the  children  secure  access  to  the  play  ground, 
the  long  hours  and  the  needlessly  heavy  burdens  borne 
by  the  parents  make  it  impossible  for  the  parents, 
the  natural  playmates  of  the  children,  to  have  their 
play  time  together  with  their  children.  The  parent  is 
the  natural  playmate,  the  most  natural  instructor,  the 
most  natural  companion  for  the  child,  but  capitalism 
dooms  the  ordinary  worker  to  such  a  life  of  toil  that  he 

9.  "To  make  the  most  of  any  individual's  peculiar  power,  it  is 
important  to  discover  it  early,  and  then  train  it  continuously  and 
assiduously.  It  is  wonderful  what  apparently  small  personal  gifts 
may  become  the  means  of  conspicuous  service  or  achievement,  if  only 
they  get  discovered,  trained  and  applied," — Eliot:  Educational  Reforms, 
pp.  408-11, 


426  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

is  incompetent  to  be  either  the  playmate  or  the  teacher 
of  his  own  child,  and  if  he  was,  it  so  binds  him  to  the 
workshop  and  the  market  place  that  there  is  no  time  for 
that  most  natural  companionship  of  the  study  hour  and 
the  play  spell  between  the  parent  and  the  child.  There 
is  no  place  where  the  school  suffers  more  than  for  lack 
of  co-operation  between  the  home,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  active  duties  of  life,  on  the  other,  with  the  school  it- 
self. But  the  school  can  now  come  in  touch  with  the  fac- 
tory only  by  becoming  the  training  school  of  slaves, 
and  it  can  come  in  touch  with  the  fireside  only  by  ad- 
mitting to  the  school  house  the  breath  of  squalor  and 
neglect  forced  into  the  workingman's  home  by  the  de- 
mands of  industry,  which  makes  a  shop- worker  of  both 
wife  and  child  and  all  too  frequently  a  tramp  of  the 
natural  bread-winner  of  the  home. 

566.  Labor  and  Learning.— Any  normal  concep- 
tion of  education  would  extend  educational  activities 
throughout  life.  No  one  is  too  old  for  play— no  one  is 
too  old  to  learn.  There  is  no  one  who  would  not  live 
better  and  wiser  and  gladder  if  there  was  time  out  of 
every  day  for  study,  for  reflection,  for  original  investi- 
gation along  some  line  of  careful  and  independent 
study.  There  is  a  limit  to  the  amount  of  vital  force 
possessed  by  the  workers.  There  is  every  reason  for 
believing  that  it  is  a  part  of  the  deliberate  purpose  of 
the  capitalists  to  so  engage  in  toil  and  to  so  exhaust 
by  toil  the  average  worker  that  he  will  be  incapable  of 
being  a  free  and  careful  thinker  as  well  as  an  effective 
worker.10 

10.  "Despotic  governments  have  stunted  men — made  them  thin- 
blooded,  low-browed,  all  back-head  and  no  forehead.  *  *  The  lar- 
gest wastes  of  any  nation  are  through  ignorance."— Hillis :  A  Man's 
Value  to  Society,  Chapter  I. 

"The  point  at  which  knowledge  will  cease  to  make  a  man  a  better 
wage- earner  may  be  soon  reached;  but  the  point  at  which  it  will  cease 
to  make  him  a  better  and  a  happier  man  will  never  be  reached."— Creigh- 
ton:  Thoughts  on  Education,  pp.  212-13. 

''The  last  right  which  it  seems  necessary  to  notice  here,  is  the. 


CHAP.  XXXI  EDUCATION  AND  SOCIALISM  427 

It  is  a  pitiful  thing  to  reflect  upon,  how  the  vast  mul- 
titudes of  the  toilers  throw  down  their  tools  at  the  end 
of  the  day's  task  too  exnausted  to  think,  even  so  ex- 
hausted that  a  rush  to  the  nearest  saloon  is  made  for  a 
stimulant  to  draw  on  the  vital  force  which  belongs  to 
tomorrow's  task,  in  order  to  endure  the  additional 
fatigue  of  returning  to  their  homes. 

567.  So  it  is  seen  that  capitalism  corrupts  the  school. 
It  forces  the  school  to  teaching  a  few  things.    It  mis- 
leads and  falsifies  the  things  it  teaches.    It  excludes 
many  children  from  the  school  in  order  to  use  them  in 
the  shops,  and  draws  the  line  at  the  beginning  of  pro- 
ductive industry  for  the  vast  multitudes  of  the  workers 
against  any  further  opportunity  for  study  or  for  cul- 
ture.11 

568.  The  Hired  Boss  and  His  Neglected  Learning.— 
The  wage  worker  is  not  the  only  one  whom  capitalism 
robs  of  the  life-long  opportunity  for  intellectual  enjoy- 
ment.    The  hired  boss  or  superintendent,  the  whole 
group  of  those  who  are  the  hired  masters  of  the  great 
industrial  establishments,  those  who  are  held  responsi- 
ble for  producing  results,  are  given  the  stern  alterna- 
tive of  being  driven  to  the  wall  by  competition  in  the 
effort  to  hold  their  positions  or  into  nervous  prostra- 
tion, idiocy  or  insanity.    Those  immediately  responsi- 
ble for  the  employment  of  labor  and  for  achieving  in- 
right  of  education.    In  this  case  the  right  and  obligation  are  so  closely 
united  that  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  distinguish  them.     Everyone,  we 
may  say,  has  both  the  right  and  the  obligation  of  being  educated  accord- 
ing to  his  capacity,  since  education  is  necessary  for  the  realization  of  the 
rational  self.     This  is  a  right  which  has  been  but  tardily  recognized, 
even  in  some  highly  civilized  countries;  and  even  now  in  many  of  them 
the  highest  kinds  of  education  are  practically  inaccessible  to  the  mass 
of  the  people." — Mackenzie:    Manual  of  Ethics,  p.  301. 

11.  "It  is  sufficient  to  mention  Lord  Bacon,  Sir  Isaac  Newton, 
Alexander  von  Humboldt,  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  or  Charles  Darwin,  in  order 
to  show  that  leisure  is  not,  as  is  claimed,  a  detriment  to  aspiration. 
It  shows,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  want  of  it  is  the  great  barrier 
to  intellectual  excellence;  that  poverty  and  monotonous  toil  crush  out 
millions  of  potential  luminaries  in  society." — Ward:  Dynamic  Sociology, 
Vol.  II.,  pp.  599-600. 


428  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

dustrial  success  in  competitive  enterprises  are  growing 
old  in  their  youth,  their  young  heads  are  covered  with 
gray  hairs,  their  public  duties  are  neglected,  their  so- 
cial opportunities  are  forsaken,  their  appreciation  of 
literature  or  the  truths  of  science  is  pushed  aside  for 
the  routine  of  their  thankless  tasks.  They  have  dulled 
their  artistic  vision,  they  have  starved  their  moral  and 
mental  faculties,  they  have  slaughtered  their  worthiest 
aspirations,  and  all  these  they  lay  on  mammon's  altar 
for  the  place  of  a  hired  master  and  must  continue  to  do 
so,  so  long  as  capitalism  continues  to  exist.12 

For  these,  too,  the  beginning  of  service  is  the  end 
of  mental  growth,  and  must  be  as  long  as  capitalism 
lasts. 

569.  Socialism  and  Education. — Now,  Socialism  will 
correct  all  this.    There  will  be  no  motive  for  falsifying 
the  books. 

570.  The  Workshop  and  the  School.— The  work 
of  the  schools  and  productive  industries  of  society  will 
necessarily  grow  toward  each  other  until  the  deep  abyss 
which  now  exists  between  the  two  will  utterly  disap- 
pear.   It  is  true  that  the  school  would  become  the  train- 
ing school  for  the  workshop,  but  the  worksEop  will 
cease  to  be  a  slaughter  house  and  will  become  the  center 
of  the  organized  activities,  wherein  the  workers,  both 
free  and  glad,  will  produce  together  the  things  essential 
for  a  full  glad  life. 

571.  The  Fireside  and  the  School. —Under  Social- 
ism there  will  be  no  abyss  between  the  fireside  and  the 
school  house.    The  teacher  will  necessarily  cease  to  be 
a  young  man  or  a  young  woman  merely  using  the 
school  house  as  a  stepping  stone  to  something  else. 
Those  who  have  no  taste  for  teaching  and  who  are  there 

12.    "The  more  society  is  improved  and  education  perfected,  the 
more  equality  will  prevail  and  liberty  be  extended." — Aristotle:  Politics, 


CHAP.  XXXI  EDUCATION  AND  SOCIALISM  429 

because  they  cannot  earn  as  much  somewhere  else  will 
disappear  entirely  from  the  school  room.  The  long 
hours  of  leisure  which  co-operation  will  win  for  the 
workers  will  restore  the  parents  to  their  children  and 
the  play  hour  to  the  home.  The  study  hour  of  the 
fireside  and  the  work  of  the  school  will  so  mingle  with 
each  other  that  it  will  be  impossible  to  name  the  place 
where  one  ceases  and  the  other  begins.  • 

572.  The  Ideals  of  the  Schools  and  the  Tasks  of 
Real  Life.— Under  Socialism  it  will  no  longer  be  true 
that  the  ideals  cherished  in  the  schools  must  be  aban- 
doned in  the  doing  of  life 's  harder  tasks,  for  whenever 
industry  is  so  organized  that  no  one  will  be  able  to  ex- 
act the  services  of  others,  except  those  who  will  ren- 
der services  in  return  and,  hence,  so  that  no  one  shall 
be  able  to  provide  for  himself  in  the  most  effective  man- 
ner without  at  the  same  time  he  shall  contribute  to  the 
welfare  of  all;  when  this  is  true,  it  will  not  need  to  be 
said  again,  as  President  Hall    said   in   Detroit,  that 
"  there  is  no  place  in  actual  life  for  the  choicest  prod- 
ucts of  the  worthiest  schools. ' ' 

573.  Summary.— 1.   Capitalism  converts  the  schools 
into  training  schools  for  training  masters  and  slaves. 

2.  It  takes  the  children  from  the  schools  for  service 
in  the  shops. 

3.  It  makes  impossible  life-long  study  for  both  the. 
workers  and  their  hired  masters. 

4.  It  falsifies  and  prostitutes  the  text  books,  en- 
forces base  ideals  and  so  misleads  the  youth  in  the  name 
of  education. 

5.  Socialism  will  reverse  all  this.    It  will  make  an 
end  of  mastery  and  servitude.    It  will  provide  for  all  a 
life-long  opportunity  for  study  and  all  motives  leading 
either  the  writers  of  text  books  or  the  teachers  to  mis- 
state the  facts  of  history  or  to  betray  the  highest  inter- 
ests of  society  will  cease  to  exist. 


430  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  is  education? 

2.  By  what  means  did  the  old  education  seek  to  improve  mankind? 

3.  How  did  the  coming  of  capitalism  affect  education? 

4.  What  is  meant  by  "the  new  education"? 

5.  How  are  the  master  and  the  serving  classes  related  to   the 
schools  ? 

6.  How  are  the  employments  of  the  shop  and  market  related  to 
the  schools? 

7.  Quote  G.  Stanley  Hall. 

8.  What  of  the  effect  of  commercialism  on  the  life  of  the  schools? 

9.  What  of  the  school  books  and  capitalism? 

10.  What  of  the  Jamestown  experiment  ? 

11.  What  of  child  labor  and  illiteracy? 

12.  What  of  the  relation  of  the  school  and  the  home  ? 

13.  What  chance  has  a  workingman  for  general  study? 

.    14.    How   will   the    coming   of    Socialism    affect    the   problem   of 
education  ? 


CHAPTER  XXXH 

THE  FARMER  AND  SOCIALISM 

574.  Untaken  Land.— Karl  Marx  has  spoken  no- 
where with  greater  clearness  than  in  the  thirty-third 
chapter  of  his  ' '  Capital, ' '  when  calling  attention  to  the 
peculiar  position  of  the  farmers  in  North  America  and 
in  the  Colonies  as  compared  with  the  farmers  in  the 
older  European  countries.    He  not  only  illustrates  but 
clinches  his  argument  with  the  famous  Swan  Eiver  ex- 
periment in  Australia,  where  a  quarter  of  a  million  of 
dollars'  worth  of  supplies  in  the  shape  of  cattle,  seeds 
and  implements  were  sent  to  a  new  country,  accom- 
panied by  three  thousand  emigrants  and  where,  be- 
cause of  the  untaken  land,  each  man  could  work  for 
himself  and  have  the  whole  of  his  products.    All  re- 
fused to  work  as  "  hired  hands "  and  the  whole  prop- 
erty was  lost  for  lack  of  laborers.1 

575.  America  Before  the  Civil    War.— For    more 
than  two  hundred  years  a  steady  stream  of  immigrants 

1.  "First  of  all  Wakefield  discovered  that  in  the  Colonies,  property 
in  money,  means  of  subsistence,  machines  and  other  means  of  produc- 
tion, does  not  as  yet  stamp  a  man  as  a  capitalist  if  there  be  wanting 
the  correlative — the  wage  worker,  the  other  man  who  is  compelled  to 
sell  himself  of  his  own  free  will.  He  discovered  that  capital  is  not  a 
thing,  but  a  social  relation  between  persons,  established  by  the  instru- 
mentality of  things.  Mr.  Peel,  he  moans,  took  with  him  from  England 

431 


432  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PAKT  V 

came  to  America.  They  landed  with  but  scanty  re- 
sources. But  their  earnings  for  a  short  time  as  "  hired 
hands"  made  possible  a  beginning  of  their  own,  on' 
lands  of  their  own,  and,  so,  for  all  this  time,  the  wages 
of  labor  made  a  nearer  approach  to  the  value  of  the 
products  of  labor  than  was  possible  in  European  coun- 
tries. The  immigrant  who  had  been  here  but  a  short 
time,  on  becoming  himself  a  self-employed  farmer, 
made  way  in  the  labor  market  for  the  more  recent  ar- 
rivals. While  the  supply  from  abroad  occasionally 
gave  the  Atlantic  cities  an  over  supply  of  wage  work- 
ers, the  outlet  in  the  West  was  so  constant  that  not 
until  recent  years  (Marx  says,  not  until  after  the  Civil 
War)  was  the  supply  of  labor  so  in  excess  of  the  de- 
mand as  to  bring  to  America  the  capitalistic  situation 
as  related  to  the  supply  of  wage  workers  and  together 
with  it  the  rule  of  capitalism  as  related  to  land  as  a 
means  of  production.2 

576.    The  Disappearing  Wage  Worker.— While  land 
was  cheap  and  plentiful,  and  the  tools  of  agriculture 

to  Swan  River,  West  Australia,  means  of  subsistence  and  of  production 
to  the  amount  of  £50,000  ($250,000).  Mr.  Peel  had  the  foresight  to  bring 
with  him,  besides,  3,000  persons  of  the  working  class,  men,  women  and 
children.  Once  arrived  at  his  destination,  'Mr.  Peel  was  left  without  a 
servant  to  make  his  bed  or  fetch  him  water  from  the  river.'  Unhappy 
Mr.  Peel,  who  provided  for  everything  except  the  export  of  English 
modes  of  production  to  Swan  River." — Karl  Marx:  Capital,  pp.  791-792. 
2.  "Meanwhile  the  advance  of  capitalistic  production  in  Europe, 
accompanied  by  increasing  government  pressure,  has  rendered  Wake- 
field's  recipe  superfluous.  On  the  one  hand,  the  enormous  ana  ceaseless 
stream  of  men,  year  after  year  driven  upon  America,  leaves  behind  a 
stationary  sediment  in  the  east  of  the  United  States,  the  wave  of 
immigration  from  Europe  throwing  men  on  the  labor  market  there  more 
rapidly  than  the  wave  of  emigration  westwards  can  wash  them  away. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  American  Civil  War  brought  in  its  train  a  colossal 
national  debt,  and,  with  it,  pressure  of  taxes,  the  rise  of  the  vilest  finan- 
cial aristocracy,  the  squandering  of  a  huge  part  of  the  public  land  on 
speculative  companies  for  the  exploitation  of  railways,  mines,  etc.,  in 
brief,  the  most  rapid  centralization  of  capital.  The  great  republic  has, 
therefore,  ceased  to  be  the  promised  land  for  emigrant  laborers.  Capi- 
talistic production  advances  there  with  giant  strides,  even  though  the 
lowering  of  wages  and  the  dependence  of  the  wage  worker  are  as  yet 
far  from  being  brought  down  to  the  normal  European  level." — Karl 
Marx:  Capital,  p.  799. 


CHAP.  XXXII      THE  FARMER    AND    SOCIALISM  433 

were  simple  and  inexpensive,  the  wage  workers  who 
came  to  this  country  were  constantly  disappearing  by 
becoming  small  farmers,  that  is,  workers  with  suffi- 
cient property  of  their  own  to  employ  their  own  labor 
but  with  neither  the  capital  nor  with  the  surplus  labor 
at  hand  to  enable  them  to  become  the  capitalistic  ex- 
ploiters of  the  labor  of  others.  Their  property  was 
the  result  of  their  own  industry  and  saving  and  was 
used  for  their  own  employment  and  support.  This 
was  in  strong  contrast  to  the  capitalist  system  where 
capital  is  the  accumulation  by  the  few  of  the  products 
of  the  many,  with  the  many  wholly  dependent  on  the 
few  for  the  opportunity  to  create  a  living. 

577.  Independent  Self-Support.— These  free  self- 
employing  farmers  not  only  produced  their  own  food, 
but  for  more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  they  were 
practically  the  only  manufacturers  as  well.3  They  pro- 
duced on  their  own  farms  their  own  clothing,  boots, 
shoes,  furniture  and  fuel,  built  their  own  houses,  and 
with  rude  tools  and  scant  returns  lived  their  own  free 
life.4  That  is,  they  did,  without  equipment  and  with- 
out organization,  exactly  what  Socialism  demands  they 
shall  have  an  opportunity  to  do  again,  become  their 
own  employers  and  have  for  their  own  reward  the  total 
product  of  their  own  labor,  but  with  the  added  oppor- 

3.  "The  first  threshing  machine  was  not  invented  till  1786;   the 
cast-iron  wheeled  plow,  the  drill,  the  potato  digger,  the  reaper  and 
binder,  the  hay-raker,  the  corn-cutter,  are  not  fifty  years  old.     The 
Massachusetts  farmer  who  witnessed  the  revolution  plowed  his  land 
with  the  wooden  'bull  plow,'  sowed  his  grain  broadcast,  and,  when  it  was 
ripe,  cut  it  with  a  scythe,  and  threshed  it  on  his  barn  floor  with  a  flail. 
His  house  was  without  paint;  his  floors  were  without  carpet.     When 
darkness  came  on  his  light  was  derived  from  a  few  candles  of  home 
manufacture.     The  place  of  furnaces  and  stoves  was  supplied  by  huge 
cavernous  fireplaces  which  took  up  one  side  of  the  room,  and,  sending 
half  the  smoke  into  the  apartment,  sent  half  the  heat  up  the  chimney." — 
McMaster :     History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  I.,  p.  18. 

4.  "In  a  paper,  called  'Cause  of  and  Cure  for  Hard  Times,'  published 
in  1787,  an  honest  old  farmer  is  made  to  say:     'At  this  time  my  farm 
gave  me  and  my  whole  family  a  good  living  on  the  produce  of  it,  and 
left  me,  one  year  with  another,  one  hundred  and  fifty  silver  dollars,  for 


434  CURRENT  PROBLEMS-  PARTY 

tunity  of  the  free  use  of  the  best  equipment,  and  most 
perfect  organization,  not  only  in  the  production  of 
crops  from  the  soil,  but  in  the  whole  round  of  human 
activity. 

578.  The  Self -Employed.— It  is  not  disputed  that 
for  most  of  this  time  feudalism  ruled  on  the  Hudson, 
and  chattel  slavery  ruled  in  the  South,  but  it  is  insisted 
that  neither  were  in  the  line  of  the  real  American  ad- 
vance, and  both  were  broken  to  pieces  not  only  because 
neither  was  as  profitable  for  the  capitalist  as  the  wage 
system,  but  for  the  added  reason  that  the  self-employ- 
ing farmers  revolted  against  the  oppression  of  slav- 
ery, with  even  greater  fierceness  than  capitalism  did 
against  its  economic  losses.     It  was  the  sons  of  the 
self-employing  farmers  in  the  East,  who,  seeking  for 
new  homes  for  themselves  in  the  West,  fought  the 
battles  for  free  soil  as  against  the  southern  planter, 
and  for  free  homesteads  as  against  the  northern  land 
grabber,  and  who  at  the  same  time  waged  the  war  as 
fiercely  in  one  direction  as  they  did  in  the  other. 

579.  No  Inheritance  of  Dependence. — The  American 
farmers  do  not  have  the  inheritance  of  a  thousand 
years  of  helpless  dependence  after  the  manner  of  the 
European  peasants.    They  have  the  record  of  the  mas- 
tery of  the  land  of  their  nativity  for  over  two  hundred 
years,  for  it  was  they  who  conquered  the  wilderness, 
established  civilization,  fought  the  French  and  Indian 
wars,  and  achieved  the  national  independence  of  this 
country,  and  then  afterward  controlled  its  affairs  for 
more  than  half  a  century.     The  city  has  arisen  and  the 
farmer  has  been  shorn  of  his  power  in  politics.    The 

I  never  spent  more  than  ten  dollars  a  year,  which  was  for  salt,  nails  and 
the  like.  Nothing  to  wear,  eat  or  drink  was  purchased,  as  my  farm 
provided  all/  American  Museum,  January  1787,  Connecticut  Courant, 
August  18,  1788.  Had  this  case  been  an  uncommon  one,  the  force  and 
value  of  the  paper  would  have  been  lost." — McMaster :  Vol  I.,  foot  note, 
p.  19. 


CHAP.  XXXII      THE    FARMER    AND    SOCIALISM  435 

factory  has  come  and  household  manufacturing  has 
disappeared  and  the  farmer  is  made  dependent  for  the 
larger  share  of  his  living  on  what  he  can  sell  into  the 
market  of  his  raw  product  in  order  that  he  may  again 
huy  out  of  the  market  the  things  of  his  use,  and  he  is 
even  more  unable  to  control  the  market,  either  when 
he  sells  or  when  he  buys,  than  is  the  skilled  workman 
of  the  city  when  he  sells  his  labor  or  buys  his  bread. 

580.  Under  the  Yoke.— Capitalism  has  now  taken 
the  farmer  as  well  as  the  carpenter  or  the  iron  moulder, 
and  has  set  him  to  work  under  the  pressure  of  the 
iron  law  of  wages,  and  while  his  wages  are  paid  in  a 
different  way  and  his  dependence  is  enforced  in  a  dif- 
ferent manner,  he  is  as  helpless  as  the  wage  worker. 
He  is  the  victim  of  the  same  exploitation.    He  is  given 
a  bare  subsistence  for  his  long  hours  of  toil  and  capital 
takes  the  rest  of  his  products  and  under  capitalism  he 
has  no  way  of  escape. 

581.  Loss  of  Independence.— The  self-employing  in- 
dependence of  the  American  farmer  has  been  taken 
away  from  him  in  four  ways;  (1)  by  the  occupation  of 
the  land,  (2)  by  the  development  of  machinery,  (3)  by 
the  separation  of  manufacturing  production  from  the 
farmer's  household,  and  (4)  by  the  specialization  of 
certain  lines  of  agricultural  enterprise  and  their  or- 
ganization by  corporations  on  a  large  scale  and  com- 
pletely under  the  factory  methods  of  production. 

582.  Occupation  of  New  Land.— 1.    The  private  oc- 
cupation of  available  public  lands  is  practically  com- 
plete.   The  recent  settlement  of  Oklahoma  shows  how 
the  surplus  labor  of  the  country  would  seek  for  self- 
employment  on  the  land  had  it  any  longer  the  oppor- 
tunity to  do  so.    The  surplus  labor  cannot  any  longer 
find  an  outlet  on  new  land  and  so  capitalism,  not  only 
in  the  shop  but  on  the  land  also,  can  proceed  to  rob  the 
laborer  according  to  its  spirit  and  its  habit,  because  the 


436  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PABT  V 

public  land  being  gone,  the  surplus  worker  has  no  other 
choice  than  to  stand  and  deliver,  or  to  tramp  and 
starve. 

583.  Machinery.— 2.    The  development  of  machin- 
ery makes  the  amount  of  capital  necessary  to  enable 
one  to  produce  to  the  best  advantage  so  large  that,  even 
were  the  land  provided,  the  additional  equipment  for 
effective  production  requires  an  outlay  beyond  the  pos- 
sible earnings  of  a  wage  worker.    An  ox-team,  a  few 
chickens  and  a  cow  is  no  longer  an  outfit  for  a  farmer, 
any  more  than  a  spinning  wheel  is  an  outfit  for  a  cotton 
factory.    With  both  the  land  and  the  machinery  con- 
trolled by  the  capitalist,    the    toolless    and   landless 
worker  has  no  outlet  on  the  farm,  except  it  be  by  long 
years  of  exhausting  toil  and  through  measureless  pri- 
vation to  which  no  one  ought  to  submit,  since  there 
is  no  economic  necessity  for  either  the  long  toil  or  the 
extreme  privation. 

584.  The  Narrowing  Process.— 3.    But  more  seri- 
ous than  either  of  these  is  the  equipment  and  organiza- 
tion  of  mining,   manufacturing,   transportation   and 
storage,  entirely  separate  from   the   farmer,   and  in 
every  instance  beyond  his  control.     He    cannot   live 
without  the  use  of  these  great  instruments  of  industry 
and  commerce.    He  cannot  get  his  products  into  the 
market  nor  his  living  out  of  the  market  without  their 
use.    The  capitalists  control  these  things  and  they  fix 
the  terms  on  which  the  farmer  is  permitted  to  exist. 
They  fix  the  price  of  what  he  sells  and  they  fix  the  price 
of  what  he  buys,  and  in  spite  of  his  ownership  of  his 
land  and  his  farming  implements,  they  fix  his  income, 
and  in  real  capitalistic  fashion  they  fix  it  on  the  basis 
of  a  bare  existence  for  the  farmer  along  with  all  the 
other  workers. 

585.  Specialization  in  Farming.— 4.    The  separa- 
tion of  purely  manufacturing  undertakings  from  the 


CHAP.  XXXII      THE    FARMER   AND    SOCIALISM  '  437 

farm  narrowed  the  farmer's  employment  to  the  pro- 
duction of  raw  materials  for  the  manufacture  of  food 
and  clothes,  but  the  specialization  of  certain  lines  of 
agricultural  enterprises  has  taken  from  the  self-em- 
ploying farmers  large  portions  of  their  work  even  as 
the  producers  of  raw  materials  used  in  the  production 
of  food  and  clothes.  The  raising  of  cattle  and  sheep, 
together  with  wool-growing,  the  butter  and  cheese  busi- 
ness, the  stock  yards  and  packing  house  enterprises, 
are  largely  in  the  hands  of  corporations.  The  growing 
and  manufacture  of  sugar,  the  producing  and  market- 
ing of  fruit,  the  raising  of  beans,  cabbages  and  pickles, 
to  some  extent  the  production  of  wheat,  and  all  the 
great  preserving  processes,  are  more  and  more  becom- 
ing great  corporation  affairs. 

As  fast  as  the  factory  system— that  is,  ample  capital, 
a  single  centralized  management  and  thoroughly  scien- 
tific methods— can  specialize  and  improve  and  so  econ- 
omize in  the  processes  of  producing  any  article  of  farm 
produce  that  its  production  can  be  made  cheaper  with 
the  work  of  a  single  worker  as  a  part  of  the  organiza- 
tion than  is  the  cost  of  feeding  the  farmer's  family 
along  with  himself,  just  so  fast  the  corporation  organ- 
izes the  business,  employs  the  single  worker  in  the  or- 
ganization, makes  no  provision  for  the  worker's  family 
and  narrows  the  range  of  the  farmer's  undertakings. 
President  Gr.  Stanley  Hall  is  the  authority  for  the 
statement  that  the  New  England  farmer  of  fifty  years 
ago  did  the  work  which  since  then  has  been  specialized 
into  not  fewer  than  sixty  trades,  and  this  process  of 
specialization  still  continues. 

586.  The  Small  Farm.— It  is  claimed  that  small 
farms,  cultivated  by  single-handed  workers  and  their 
families,  will  always  pay  better  than  large  ones,  and 
diversified  farming  better  than  "wool  growing," 
"market  gardening,"  "wheat  raising,"  "cattle  ranch- 


438  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PABT  V 

ing,"  "bean  farming,"  " fruit  raising,"  "the  milk' 
business,"  "dairying,"  or  any  other  single  specialty 
in  farming.  The  answer  to  this  is  two-fold.  (1)  This 
same  thing  has  been  said  continuously  throughout  all 
the  years  during  which  spinning,  weaving,  tanning, 
shoe  making,  fuel  production,  preserving,  fruit  grow- 
ing, dairying  and  cattle  raising  have  been  coming  under 
the  form  of  the  factory  system,  and  still  the  process 
of  specialization,  capitalization  and  organization,  with 
the  self-employed  small  farmer  left  out  of  the  organ- 
ization and  deprived  of  its  benefits,  goes  on  continu- 
ously. East  such  step  has  made  the  "independent 
farmer"  more  and  more  dependent  on  the  corpora- 
tions created  by  and  managed  under  modern  capi- 
talism. 

587.  Salaried  Superintendents.— 2.    If  it  be  dis- 
puted that  the  factory  system  is  entering  largely  into 
the  field  of  agriculture  and  with  the  same  results  as 
in  manufacturing,  a  sufficient  reason  for  thinking  so 
is  found  in  the  fact  that  just  as  students  in  the  schools 
of  technology  are  picked  up  for  superintendents  in  fac- 
tories, as  fast  as  they  graduate,  so  the  students  in 
agricultural  colleges  are  taken  even  faster  than  they 
are  able  to  graduate,  as  superintendents  of  capitalistic 
enterprises  in  agriculture,  dairying  or  in  fruit  growing 
companies,  and  in  these  enterprises  they  are  given  sal- 
aries from  two  to  five  times  the  average  earnings  of 
the  self-employed  farmer. 

588.  Why  Half  a  Farm.— If  it  be  said  that  the 
farms  are  growing  smaller  on  the  average,  and  that 
therefore  the  corporation  farm  does  not  threaten  the 
self-employed  farmer,  along  with  the  self-employed 
store-keeper,  or  manufacturer,  the  answer  is  that  both 
the  small  shop  and  the  small  store  grow  smaller  as  they 
disappear.    As  the    department    store   advances    the 
small  store  does  not  tend  to  get  larger,  but  it  is  com- 


CHAP.  XXXII      THE    FARMER    AND    SOCIALISM  439 

pelled  to  get  smaller  in  the  process  of  its  extinction. 
That  farms  are  getting  smaller  on  the  average  is  ably 
disputed  as  a  matter  of  fact,  but  whatever  the  truth 
may  be,  it  is  not  essential  to  our  argument.  If  the 
average  acreage  of  the  farm  is  less,  it  is  because  the 
mortgaged  farm  is  divided  in  order  that  the  farmer 
may  sacrifice  a  part  of  it  rather  than  lose  it  all.  If 
the  old  homesteads  are  being  divided  among  the  chil- 
dren, it  is  because  there  is  no  other  outlet  for  the 
farmers '  sons.  It  is  not  because  a  half  a  farm  is  more 
desirable  for  each  of  two  children  than  wo^uld  be  a 
whole  one.  It  is  because  it  has  come  to  a  point  where 
neither  the  city  shop  nor  the  western  lands  can  provide 
for  surplus  population.  It  is  because  half  a  farm  is 
better  than  no  farm  at  all.  It  is  not  because  the  fac- 
tory system  of  limitless  capital,  cheap  labor  and  scien- 
tific management  will  not  work  in  agriculture.  It  is 
because  the  average  farmer's  boy  cannot  take  advan- 
tage of  these  and  is  obliged  to  forego  the  most  eco- 
nomic methods  of  production  and  to  work  on  with  poor 
equipment,  within  narrow  fields  and  with  unscientific 
methods  or  to  have  no  means  at  all  whereby  he  may 
save  his  life. 

589.  Millionaire  Ranchmen.— It  should  be  borne  in 
mind  that  there  are  all  grades  of  farmers,  from  the 
millionaire  ranchman  to  the  farm  hand.     The  farm 
hand  is  completely  a  wage  worker,  and  the  millionaire 
ranchman  is  completely  a  capitalist.    Just  as  the  small 
manufacturer  and  the  small  store  keeper  are  doomed 
by  the  great  factory  and  the  department  store,  and  can 
have  no  interest  in  common  with  them,  so  the  self-em- 
ployed farmer  is  utterly  without  any  interest  in  com- 
mon with  corporation  millionaires,  who  are  already 
masters  in  the  sheep,  wool  and  cattle  industries,  and 
are  continually  entering  every  other  field  of  agricultur- 
al enterprise. 

590.  Surrender  for  Lack  of  Outlet,— If  rude  tools 


440  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

and  single-handed  industry  remain  in  use  on  the  small 
farms  it  is  not  because  good  tools  are  not  desirable. 
It  is  because  human  life  is. so  cheap  on  these  small 
farms  in  the  presence  of  increasing  populations  and 
with  no  outlet  elsewhere.  Make  decent  industrial  op- 
portunities for  all  and  the  conditions  of  farm  labor 
will  necessarily  be  made  as  good,  with  rewards  as 
great,  and  with  hours  of  toil  as  short,  and  with  life's 
social  opportunities  as  desirable,  as  are  those  of  any 
other  calling,  or  the  farm  work  will  not  be  done.  But 
the  farm  work  must  be  done.  The  food  supply  of  the 
world  depends  upon  it.  Very  well,  then,  if  decent  in- 
dustrial conditions  were  provided  for  all  by  the  co- 
operative organization  of  the  great  manufacturing, 
mining,  transportation  and  storage  industries,  with 
equal  opportunity  for  all  to  be  employed  in  these  in- 
dustries, then  the  conditions  of  farm  labor  would  nec- 
essarily have  to  be  so  improved  that  the  advantages 
of  the  man  who  works  closest  to  the  soil  would  be  the 
equal  of  those  enjoyed  by  any  other  workers,  and  this 
would  be  equally  true  whether  agriculture  was  carried 
on  co-operatively  or  as  individual  enterprises,  pro- 
vided equal  access  to  the  soil  with  equal  equipment  for 
its  use  are  guaranteed  to  all. 

591.  The  Surplus  Farmer's  Boy.— If  there  was  an 
outlet  on  new  land  the  farmer's  surplus  boy  woud  not 
divide  the  old  farm.    If  there  was  an  outlet  in  some 
other  calling  he  would  not  be  a  farmer  at  all.     He 
would  not  submit  to  the  long  hours  of  toil,  to  the  con- 
stant separation  from  the  society  of  his  fellows,  to  the 
lonelines  and  isolation  of  his  wife  and  children,  in 
their  separation  from  social  and  educational  opportu- 
nities, had  he  any  better  choice  than  the  cheerless  and 
over-crowded  tenement  which  is  now  a  poor  man's  lot 
if  he  leaves  the  farm. 

592.  " Middle  Class "  Farmers.— The  defenders  of 


CHAP.  XXXII      THE    FARMER    AND    SOCIALIST  441 

capitalism  are  fond  of  pointing  to  the  Census  Eeport 
and  to  the  fact  that  the  value  of  farm  property  in  the 
United  States  exceeds  twenty  billion  dollars  as  evi- 
dence that  there  is  a  "  great  middle  class  that  can  have 
no  interest  in  Socialism."  To  this  the  reply  is  that  the 
matter  of  greatest  concern  to  the  wage  worker  is  the 
fact  that  he  cannot  escape  exploitation.  Socialism  will 
put  an  end  to  exploitation.  Then  Socialism  is  of  the 
most  vital  concern  to  all  victims  of  .exploitation. 
Therefore,  if  a  great  majority  of  the  people  who  are 
usually  considered  in  "the  middle  class"  are  found  to 
be,  nevertheless,  victims  of  exploitation,  then  it  is  clear 
that  they  have  interests  which  will  be  best  served  by 
the  coming  of  Socialism. 

593.  The  Exploited  Farmer.— Is  the  farmer  ex- 
ploited!    The  following  facts,  taken  from  the  "Ab- 
stract of  the  Twelfth  Census,  1900,"  issued  from  the 
United  States  Census  Office,  shows  that  an  unqualified 
statement  that  one  is  the  owner  of  a  farm  does  not 
alone  determine  whether  he  is  an  exploiter  or  the  vic- 
tim of  exploitation.    The  total  value  of  farm  property 
was  $20,439,901,164  (p.  217),  while  the  total  value  of 
the  farm  product,  not  fed  to  live  stock,  was  $3,764,177,- 
706.    Deduct  from  this  $54,783,757,  which  was  paid  for 
fertilizers  (p.  236),  divide  the  remainder  by  10,381,- 
765  workers  engaged  in  farming  industry  (p.  24),  and 
you  have  $357  to  the  individual  employed.    From  this 
$357  must  be  further  deducted  interest  on  mortgages, 
taxes,  cost  of  repairing  machinery,  etc.  [which  amount 
is  not  stated],  in  order  to  find  the  average  annual  re- 
turns for  the  labor  of  an  individual  employed  in  the 
farming  industry. 

594.  Worse  Than  Cotton  Factories.— The  value  of 
the  product  of  $3,375,862  of  these  farms  averages  less 
than  $250.    This  number  is  equal  to  58.8  per  cent  of  all 
the  farms  in  this  country  (p.  222).    The  value  of  the 


442  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

product  of  1,378,539  of  the  better  farms,  i.  e.,  24  per 
cent  of  the  total  number  of  farms,  averages  about  $750. 
From  this  must  be  deducted  the  amount  paid  for  hired 
help,  interest  on  mortgages,  taxes  and  repair  of  ma- 
chinery in  order  to  find  the  net  income  of  the  farmer 
of  this  class.  This  shows  that  on  the  average  the  24 
per  cent  of  the  total  number  of  farmers  are  exploited 
to  as  great  an  extent  as  the  iron  and  steel  worker  whose 
wages  average  $584  per  year  (pp.  322-323)  while  the 
58.8  per  cent,  the  farmers  of  the  poorer  class,  are  ex- 
ploited on  the  average  to  a  greater  extent  than  the  cot- 
ton factory  workers,  where  so  many  helpless  women 
and  children  are  employed  for  the  poorest  wages  paid 
in  any  of  the  manufacturing  industries.5  There  re- 
mains 14.5  per  cent  of  the  farmers  with  an  average 
product  of  $1,750  and  2.7  per  cent  of  the  farmers  have 
a  product  of  over  $2,500. 

There  are  2,014,316  tenants  and  4,410,877  farm 
hands  most  of  whom  must  find  a  place  on  these  last  two 
classes  of  farms.  These  tenants  and  farm  hands  can 
have  no  interest  in  perpetuating  exploitation.  It  will 
give  an  idea  as  to  how  numerous  these  tenants  and 
farm  hands  are  and  how  large  a  proportion  of  the 
whole  population  is  so  employed  and  so  exploited  by 
remembering  that  together  they  exceed  by  169,525  the 
total  popular  vote  of  the  Democratic  party  in  the 
United  States  in  1900.  That  this  vast  army  of  farm 
workers  are  the  victims  of  capitalistic  exploitation  no 
one  denies. 

595.  Bankers  Not  Farmers.— But  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  ownership  of  a  farm  that  does  not  yield 

5.  It  is  interesting  to  notice  that  the  southern  manufacturers  reply 
to  the  complaint  against  the  employment  of  children  in  the  southern 
factories  by  calling  attention  to  the  fact  that  these  children  are  better 
cared  for  in  the  factories  than  they  had  before  been  cared  for  on  the 
farms.  To  this  no  answer  can  be  made  by  those  who  object  to  child  labor 
in  the  factories,  but  ignore  its  existence  on  the  farms. 


CHAP.  XXXII      THE   FARMER   AND   SOCIALISM  443 

enough  product  to  support  two  families  does  not  en- 
able the  owner  to  rent  it  to  another  and  live  himself  as 
an  exploiter.  There  are  many  bankers  and  business 
men  who  own  and  rent  farms  that  yield  only  a  few 
hundred  dollars'  worth  of  products,  but  they  are  able 
to  do  this  not  because  of  their  ownership  of  the  aver- 
age farm  but  because  of  their  ownership  of  many  such 
farms  or  of  other  things  in  no  way  a  part  of  the  farm. 
So  the  argument  that  82.8  per  cent  of  the  farms  do  not 
enable  their  owners  to  become  exploiters  or  to  escape 
exploitation  still  holds  good,  while  the  2,014,316  ten- 
ants and  4,410,877  wage  earners,  in  addition  to  the  ex- 
ploited owners  of  the  average  farm,  make  it  certain 
that  at  least  90  per  cent  of  all  those  engaged  in  farm- 
ing are  victims  of  exploitation  to  as  great  an  extent 
as  the  wage  workers  in  other  industries.  The  bankers 
and  business  men  who  own  farms  and  rent  them  can- 
not be  classed  with  the  farmers  any  more  than  the 
members  of  a  railroad  corporation  who  exploit  the  far- 
mer in  another  way.  The  Census  Reports  do  not 
count  these  bankers  and  business  men  as  farmers  and 
they  are  not  included  in  the  above. 

596.  The  Largest  Group  of  the  Working  Class.- 
If  90  per  cent  of  the  10,381,765  workers  engaged  in 
agricultural  employments  are  victims  of  exploitation 
that  will  make  a  total  number  of  9,343,589  such  vic- 
tims. The  total  vote  for  all  candidates  for  the  presi- 
dency, scattering  votes  and  all,  in  1900,  was  13,983,610. 
If  the  number  of  exploited  farm  workers  be  compared 
with  this  total  vote  it  will  be  found  that  it  exceeds  two- 
thirds  of  the  whole  vote  by  21,183.  It  equals  about 
one-half  of  all  the  whole  number  of  productive  work- 
ers in  the  United  States  and  is  a  majority  of  more  than 
a  million  over  the  whole  number  of  full-grown  male 
workers  engaged  in  all  other  industries.  Whatever 
these  workers  own  does  not  deliver  them  from  exploi- 


444  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

tation.     Nothing  but  Socialism  can  ever  effect  their 
deliverance. 

597.  The  Agricultural  Working  Class.— The  own- 
ership of  property  which  is  not  used  for  the  purposes 
of  exploitation  does  not  make  a  man  a  capitalist.    It 
is  inconceivable  that  under  Socialism  the  general  aver- 
age of  property  held  for  private  use  will  not  vastly 
exceed  anything  that  does  or  can  exist  under  capital- 
ism.    The  ownership  of  property,  the  income  from 
which  in  rent,  interest  or  profit  does  not  amount  to  a 
sufficient  sum  to  enable  its  possessor  to  live  without 
labor,  still  leaves  such  a  person  in  the  working  class, 
subject  to  exploitation  and  dependent  on  the  coming  of 
Socialism  as  the  only  certain  means  for  his  deliver- 
ance. 

598.  A  Bare  Existence.— Capitalism  in  the  shop  and 
store  and  on  the  farm  alike,  leaves  for  most  men  but  a 
bare  existence  and  appropriates  for  itself  the  bulk  of 
labor's  products,  securing  for  the  capitalists  an  income 
which  they  can  neither  use  nor  waste.     By  the  spe- 
cialization and  organization  of  industry  under  capital- 
ism the  means  of  producing  the  means  of  life  are  no 
longer  in  the  hands  of  any  of  the  workers.    This  is  as 
true  of  the  farmer  as  of  any  of  the  other  workers.    He 
is  as  dependent  on  a  railroad  as  he  is  on  a  self-binder. 
He  is  as  dependent  on  a  cotton  factory  as  he  is  on  a 
cotton  field  or  a  herd  of  sheep.    He  is  as  dependent  on 
a  sugar  refinery  as  he  is  on  his  garden.    He  is  as  de- 
pendent on  the  market  as  he  is  on  his  farm.     The 
means  of  transportation,  manufacture  and  return  to 
him  of  the  means  of  his  own  existence  are  as  far  be- 
yond his  control  as  they  are  with  the  carpenter  who 
owns  his  kit  of  tools  and  yet  lives  solely  by  the  consent 
of  capitalism. 

599.  Public  Ownership.— Capitalism  cannot  deliver 
the  farmer  from  exploitation,  nor  can  any  possible  re- 


CHAP.  XXXII      THE    FARMER   AND   SOCIALISM  445 

form,  made  under  capitalism,  do  so.  Public  ownership 
of  railroads  simply  leaves  the  coal,  the  machinery  and 
the  steel  mills  and  ore  mines  in  private  hands,  and  the 
capitalist  still  able  to  manipulate  business  and  despoil 
the  workers.  If  all  the  related  industries  are  to  go 
with  the  roads,  and  all  to  be  controlled  by  the  workers, 
and  in  their  own  behalf,  that  would  fix  it,  but  that 
would  include  all  important  industries  and  that  is 
Socialism. 

600.  Public  Loans.— Public  loans  on  the  storage  of 
grain  would  help  the  farmer  to  hold  his  crop  for  a 
later  market,  would  help  all  the  farmers  to  do  so.    If 
this  advanced  the  price  to  the  farmer,  the  capitalist 
would  still  fix  the  price  of  what  the  farmer  buys  and 

what  he  would  save  in  the  one  case  he  would  lose  in  the 

t 

other.  If  the  public  would  provide  the  means  for  pro- 
ducing what  the  farmer  buys  and  would  store  that,  as 
well  as  what  the  farmer  produces,  and  would  give  all 
hands  a  chance  at  the  goods  for  the  cost  of  production, 
that  would  not  only  secure  for  the  farmer  the  full  value 
of  the  product  of  his  own  labor,  but  it  would  give  him 
access  to  the  products  of  others  on  a  basis  which  would 
increase  his  purchasing  power  in  the  market  more  than 
would  be  true  of  any  other  class  of  workers.  At  the 
same  time  it  would  give  the  manufacturing  working- 
man  the  same  advantage  and  increase  his  purchasing 
power  in  the  same  manner,  if  not  to  the  same  degree. 
But  that  is  Socialism. 

601.  Farmer  and  Capitalist.— The  ordinary  farmer 
is  not  a  capitalist.    He  is  a  workingman.    Whatever  he 
owns  he  owns  in  order  that  he  may  employ  himself. 
When  he  employs  others,  it  is  only  in  order  to  use  his 
own  labor  to  a  better  advantage.    His  farm  is  not  his 
in  order  to  exploit  others,  but  in  order  to  employ  him- 
self.  He  has  no  interests  in  common  with  the  capitalist. 
His  own  and  his  children's  future  depends  on  the  over- 


446  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

throw  of  capitalism.  The  only  alternate  to  capital- 
ism is  Socialism. 

602.  Socialism  and  the  Farmer.— What  would  So- 
cialism do  for  the  American  farmer? 

It  would  provide  at  once  an  outlet  for  surplus  popu- 
lation. It  could  inaugurate  agriculture  on  the  new  and 
arid  lands  [now  worthless]  by  vast  systems  of  im- 
provements, and  give  to  every  idle  worker,  not  the  va- 
cant land,  but  employment  with  the  complete st  equip- 
ment and  the  most  perfect  organization,  and  to  all  of 
the  workers  would  belong  all  of  the  products.  The  sur- 
plus farmer's  boy  and  the  idle  carpenter,  instead  of 
dividing  the  old  farm  or  competing  with  a  fellow  la- 
borer for  the  chance  to  live,  would  be  given  the  best  of 
all  possible  chances  to  provide  for  themselves. 

Socialism  would  make  possible  the  storage  of  the 
water  at  the  sources  of  all  the  rivers  ^of  the  Mississippi 
valley  and  its  distribution  and  use  when  needed  on  the 
very  lands  on  which  the  floods  and  drouths  now  spoil 
so  large  a  share  of  their  productive  possibilities.  Be- 
sides, in  those  vast  enterprises  the  great  tracts  of  un- 
used alluvial  lands  of  the  Mississippi  bottoms  could 
be  brought  under  the  most  scientific  cultivation,  and 
the  machinery  of  agricultural  production  perfected  on 
the  largest  scale,  and  so  again,  by  the  enormous  in- 
crease of  production  on  such  a  scale,  further  multiply 
the  productivity  of  labor.  All  of  this  enormous  gain 
would  fall  to  the  workers  only.  "By  this  increase  of 
productivity,  the  working  day  could  be  greatly  short- 
ened, while  the  product  would  at  the  same  time  be 
greatly  increased.  During  the  busy  season  the  farm 
workers  could  be  reinforced  from  other  sources,  and 
during  the  dull  season  the  man  on  the  land  could  be 
otherwise  employed,  so  that  instead  of  the  overwork 
of  the  busy  season  and  the  idleness  of  many  for  the 


CHAP.  XXXII      THE   FARMER   AND   SOCIALISM  447 

non-productive  months,  there  would  be  all  the  year 
employment  for  all  the  workers.6 

Bapid  transit  and  ample  leisure  for  all  the  workers 
would  make  possible  numerous  centers  of  population, 
and  instead  of  the  lonely  isolation  of  the  usual  farm 
house,  they  would  put  within  easy  reach  of  the  workers 
on  the  land  every  social  and  educational  opportunity 
which  could  be  provided  for  anybody  or  anywhere. 

603.  The  Farmer's  Family.— What  the  farmers  will 
do  with  Socialism  ought  not  to  be  a  hard  question  to 
answer  so  long  as  the  question,  how  to  keep  the  boys  on 
the  farms,  remains  unanswered. 

The  ordinary  farmer's  boy  has  hopes  beyond  the 
boundaries  of  the  farm  home  of  his  childhood.  What- 
ever may  be  said  to  him  about  the  joys  of  country  life, 
he  sees  the  farmers  around  him  worn  and  bent  with 
toil.  He  sees  his  mother  old  before  her  time,  and  he 
can  see  no  future  for  himself  and  the  woman  who  is  to 
be  his  wife  but  to  repeat  the  toilsome  tasks  of  those  who 
gave  him  his  existence. 

Socialism  alone  can  solve  the  problem  of  the  farmer's 
boy.  It  alone  can  provide  for  him  the  manly  life  of 
labor  and  leisure  for  which  he  longs. 

The  farmer's  daughter  depends  on  Socialism  as  her 
only 'sure  way  for  entry  into  the  gladder  and  larger 
social  life  which  lies  beyond  the  farm  house. 

If  she  escapes  from  the  farm  now,  it  is  to  become  a 
servant  in  the  office,  shop  or  kitchen  of  some  stranger, 
and  so  exchange  her  independent  isolation  on  the  farm 
for  association  hi  the  midst  of  humiliating  dependence. 

604.  Enlarging  Life  and  Restoring  Liberty.— The 
value  of  the  average  products  of  all  the  workers  in 
manufacturing,  mining  and  transportation  greatly  ex- 
ceeds that  of  the  workers  on  the  land.    Formerly  all 
these  things  were  done  by  the  farmers  themselves  in 

6.  In  discussing  the  order  of  advance  under  the  socialization  of 
industries  the  "Communist  Manifesto"  suggests: 

"Combination  of  agriculture  with  manufacturing  industries;  gradual 
abolition  of  the  distinction  between  town  and  country  by  a  more  equable 
distribution  of  the  population  over  the  country." 


448  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

the  old  rude  way  of  doing  them.  But  capitalism  has 
separated  them  from  the  farmer,  vastly  increased  their 
productivity  and  excluded  the  farmer  from  the  benefits 
of  the  improvements.  Socialism  would  again  make  the 
farmer  a  sharer  in  these  and  in  the  whole  industrial  life 
of  the  world. 

There  will  be  no  occasion  for  attacking  the  small 
farm  on  the  inauguration  of  Socialism.  The  collective 
industry  could  not  afford  to  touch  such  properties  un- 
til the  great  and  unused  tracts  of  arid  and  bottom  lands 
should  first  be  used,  and  long  before  such  enterprises 
could  be  completed,  the  small  farmer  could  not  be  kept 
at  his  isolated  and  unprofitable  task,  so  great  would 
be  the  rewards  awaiting  him  in  the  collective  industry. 
But  should  the  small  farm  still  give  the  best  returns 
there  is  no  reason  why  the  farm  work  of  the  world 
may  not  still  be  done  on  small  farms,  only  the  fear  of 
foreclosure  or  eviction  or  the  dependence  of  the  farm 
tenant  and  the  farm  hand  will  be  forever  over,  as  well 
as  the  power  of  the  railways,  the  factories  and  the 
storehouses  to  corner  the  farmer's  products  and  rob 
him  of  the  value  of  the  services  he  has  rendered. 

605.  The  Way  Out.— Forty  per  cent  of  the  voting 
population  is  on  the  farm.  Ninety  per  cent  of  these 
farmers,  as  the  smallest  possible  estimate,  have  noth- 
ing to  lose  but  their  isolation  and  their  poverty  by  the 
coming  of  Socialism,  and  they,  too,  as  well  as  the  wage 
slaves  of  the  manufacturing  towns,  have  a  world  to 
gain. 

The  farmers  had  a  more  influential  part  in  making 
the  institutions  of  this  country  than  any  other  class  of 
workers.  They  have  been  and  are  the  most  independent 
in  political  action,  and  they  are  by  force  of  habit  and 
by  the  experience  of  all  those  now  living  in  the  western 
and  central  western  states,  accustomed  to  adventure 
and  are  determined  not  to  be  directly  or  indirectly  the 
slaves  of  capitalism  in  any  form.  But  the  farmers  can 
never  rule  this  country  again,  except  in  alliance  with 


CHAP.  XXXII          THE    FARMER    AND    SOCIALISM  44U 

the  working  men  of  the  factories,  mines,  storehouses 
and  transportation  lines. 

The  working  men  of  the  towns,  in  a  party  by  them- 
selves, will  not  be  able  to  out-vote  the  country  districts 
for  many  years.  But  the  workers  of  the  towns  and  of 
the  country  are  alike  ready  and  over-ripe  for  Socialism. 
When  they  unite  to  secure  Socialism,  Socialism  will 
come  on  that  same  hour. 

606.  Summary.— 1.  The  American  farmers  have 
at  last  come  under  the  control  of  capitalism. 

2.  Under  capitalism  the  famer  must  work  for  a 
bare  existence  the  same  as  other  workers. 

3.  His  ownership  of  a  portion  of  the  means  of  pro- 
duction, in  the  shape  of  land  and  implements,  does  not 
deliver  him  from  exploitation,  because  he  depends  as 
fully  on  the  means  of  production  in  manufacture  and 
on  the  means  of  distribution,  as  do  the  wage  workers, 
and  neither  in  the  means  of  manufacture  nor  in  the 
means  of  distribution  has  he  any  ownership. 

4.  Public  ownership  of  a  part  of  the  means  of  manu- 
facture and  distribution  will  not  deliver  him  from  ex- 
ploitation, so  long  as  any  share  of  the  means  of  produc- 
tion in  manufacture  or  the  means  of  distribution  on 
which  he  must  depend  are  privately  owned,   because 
such  a  partial  public  ownership  will  only  shift  the  place 
where  he  is  robbed,  not  stop  the  robbery. 

5.  No  real  relief  can  be  secured  for  the  farmer  by 
any  reform  in  the  medium  of  exchange,  or  in  the  meth- 
od by  which  he  secures  the  use  of  money  in  order  to 
exchange  his  own  products  for  manufactured  articles, 
so  long  as  the  things  he  buys  are  privately  controlled, 
through  the  private  ownership  of  the  means  of  manu- 
facture and  distribution. 

6.  The  great  economies  of  the  use  of  the  great  ma- 
chines, the  special  skill  resulting  from  the  minute  divis- 
ions of  labor,  the  opportunity  to  be  productively  em- 
ployed, all  the  year  round,  and  the  opportunity  to 
secure  what  he  cannot  produce,  at  what  it  costs  in 
labor  to  produce  it,  can  never  be  obtained  by  the  farmer 


450  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

under  capitalism,  but  will  at  once  be  realized  under 
Socialism. 

7.  The  income  of  farm  and  factory  workers  can  be 
greatly  increased,  and  the  working  day  for  both  greatly 
shortened  under  Socialism.  There  is  no  great  or  lasting 
improvement  for  either  under  capitalism. 

8.  Under  Socialism  farmers  and  their  families  will 
have  even  better  social  and  educational  opportunities 
than  are  now  provided  for  the  most  fortunate.    Neither 
their  sons  nor  daughters  will  be  obliged  to  abandon 
the  associations  of  childhood  and  become  the  hired 
servants  of  anyone  in  order  to  make  a  beginning  in 
the  world. 

9.  The  farmers  who  are  manual  laborers,  together 
with  the  wage  workers  of  the  towns,  are,  together,  the 
overwhelming  majority  of  the  people.     Socialism  is 
the  only  platform  which  shows  a  way  of  deliverance 
both  for  self-employed  farmers  and  wage  workers,  and 
hence,  on  which  they  can  all  unite,  and  united  no  powet 
can  withstand  them. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  Show  the  reason  why  farmers  in  new  countries  have  been  able  to 
escape  from  the  control  of  capitalism. 

2.  What  share  has  the  American  farmer  had  in  the  development 
and  government  of  this  country? 

3.  Show  how  the  private  occupancy  of  the  public  land  has  helped  to 
bring  the  farmer  under  the  control  of  capitalism. 

4.  Show    the    same    thing    with    regard    to    the    development    of 
machinery  and  with  regard  to  the  separation  of  mining  and  manufac- 
turing from  the  farmer. 

5.  Why  will  not  public  ownership  of  the  railroads  deliver  the  far- 
mers from  exploitation? 

6.  Why  will  not  the  public  storage  and  public  loans  deliver  the 
farmer  from  exploitation? 

7.  How  far  must  public  ownership  be  extended  in  order  to  deliver 
the  farmer  from  exploitation?    Who  else  would  then  be  benefited? 

8.  How    would    Socialism    provide    for    the    farmer's    sons    and 
daughters  ? 

9.  How  would  it  affect  his  hours  of  labor,  and  his  social  and  educa- 
tional opportunities  ?    Why  ? 

10.  Would  Socialism  begin  with  an  attack  on  the  small  farms? 
Why  not  ?    If  the  small  farmer  should  give  up  his  farm  under  Socialism, 
why  would  he  do  it  ? 

11.  Is  it  likely  that  the  farmers  will  ever  be  able  to  control  the 
country  again,  without  the  aid  of  the  manufacturing  wage  workers  ? 

12.  Can  either  secure  economic  independence  without  the  other  ? 

13.  Why  is  Socialism  the  only  platform  on  which  all  the  workers, 
including  the  farmers,  can  be  united? 


CHAPTEE  XXXIII 

THE    MIDDLE    CLASS    AND  SOCIALISM 

607.  The  Middle  Class.-The  term  "middle  class" 
applies  in  ordinary  literature  to  the  class  of  manufac- 
turers and  business  men  developed  in  the  growth  of 
modern  industry  between  the  aristocracy  on  the  one 
hand  and  the  wage  workers  on  the  other.  Cromwell 
was  the  political  representative  of  this  class  in  his 
time;  Cobden,  Bright  and  Gladstone  were  representa- 
tives of  the  same  class.  The  continental  term  for  this 
middle  class  is  the  "bourgeoisie."  This  term  is  de- 
rived from  the  term  "burghers,"  meaning  townsmen 
of  mediaeval  times.  "Burgh,"  which  is  a  part  of  the 
names  of  so  many  American  towns,  as  "Pittsburgh," 
is  from  this  same  source. 

The  term  "bourgeois"  came  finally  to  mean  the  em- 
ploying manufacturers  and  traders  of  the  towns  as  dis- 
tinguished from  working  men  of  the  towns  who  were 
without  the  means  of  self-employment,  as  well  as  from 
the  military  masters,  soldiers  and  peasants'  in  and 
about  the  castles.  In  English  literature  the  same  class 
is  spoken  of  as  the  "commoners." 

In  America,  there  being  no  aristocracy,  society  is 
properly  divided  into  two  classes  only— the  class  which 
in  England  is  called  the  "commoners,"  and  on  the  Con- 

451 


452  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

tinent  the  "bourgeoisie,"  in  America  is  represented  by 
employing  manufacturers  and  business  men.  The 
small  business  men,  or  the  small  shop  men  on  the  conti- 
nent are  spoken  of.  as  the  " petty  bourgeois."  In 
America,  in  ordinary  discussion,  the  term  middle  class 
has  come  to  apply  to  the  "petty  bourgeois,"  that  is, 
to  the  small  manufacturer  and  the  small  business  man. 
The  small  farmer  has  come  also  to  be  included  in  the 
middle  class  in  American  discussions. 

608.  The  Subject  Stated.— The  subject,  then,  for 
this  chapter,  is  the  consideration  of  these  small  busi- 
ness men,  small  manufacturers  and  small  property 
holders  of  all  sorts  in  relation  to  the  Socialist  move- 
ment in  this  country.  It  must  be  remembered,  to  begin 
with,  that  most  men  will  be  governed,  in  the  long  run 
and  as  a  general  principle,  by  what  they  conceive  to  be 
their  economic  interests.  It  has  been  seen  that  these 
economic  interests  have  so  far  determined  all  of  the 
great  conflicts  in  the  history  of  the  race.  It  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  the  class  struggle  is  directly  be- 
tween the  business  man's  interest  and  the  working 
man's  interest;  that  is,  it  is  a  struggle  resulting  from  a 
conflict  of  interests.  If  the  share  of  the  products  which 
falls  to  the  workers  is  to  be  increased,  then  the  share 
which  goes  for  rent,  interest  and  profit  must  be  de- 
creased. If  the  share  which  goes  for  rent,  interest  and 
profit  shall  be  increased,  then  the  share  which  falls  to 
the  laborer  must  be  correspondingly  decreased.  Each 
party  to  this  conflict  is  all  the  time  endeavoring  to  en- 
large its  own  share.  This  is  the  war  of  interests  which 
is  always  going  on  under  capitalism. 

These  mutually  antagonistic  interests  naturally 
bring  into  antagonistic  relations  the  parties  whose  in- 
terests are  thus  found  to  be  in  conflict.  There  is  no 
question  as  to  where  the  interests  of  wage  workers 
fall  in  this  struggle.  There  is  no  question  as  to  where 


CHAP.  XXXIII    MIDDLE  CLASS  AND  SOCIALISM  453 

the  capitalist,  that  is,  the  man  who  holds  in  private 
ownership  the  means  of  production,  and  uses  these  pri- 
vately owned  means  of  production  for  the  purposes  of 
exploitation— there  is  no  question  as  to  where  the  in- 
terests of  this  man  fall,  and  so  far  as  he  understands 
his  interests,  there  is  no  question  as  to  where  he  will  be 
most  likely  to  be  found  in  the  conflict. 

609.  Numbers  of  the  Various  Classes.— It  has  been 
seen  in  the  previous  chapter  that  ninety  per  cent  of 
those  engaged  in  agricultural  employments  are  the 
victims  of  exploitation.  While  twenty  billions  and 
more  are  invested  in  farm  property,  only  the  smallest 
number  of  farms,  not  more  than  17.2  per  cent  of  them 
all,  are  the  means  of  exploitation.  All  the  workers  on 
this  17.2  per  cent  of  the  farms  and  all  the  people,  both 
the  owners  who  are  also  workers  and  the  workers  who 
are  not  owners  on  all  the  other  farms,  are  victims  of 
exploitation.  It  is  not  an  easy  matter  to  fix  the  lines 
marking  the  boundaries  of  the  middle  class  from  the 
large  capitalists.  If  the  14.5  per  cent  of  the  farmers 
with  an  average  product  of  $1,750  per  year  be  classed 
as  the  middle  class  and  the  2.7  per  cent  which,  accord- 
ing to  the  same  authority  claims  to  produce  a  yearly 
product  valued  at  more  that  $2,500  per  year,  be  classed 
as  capitalists,  and  then  the  same  proportion  is  ad- 
mitted to  hold  good  in  all  other  callings,  the  boundaries 
will  probably  be  admitted  to  be  substantially  correct.1 
This  would  leave  the  working  class  composed  of  82.8 
per  cent  of  all  the  people,  which  is  certainly  under 
rather  than  over  the  number  of  those  who  earn  their 
living  by  rendering  service  rather  than  by  appropriat- 
ing the  products  of  others. 

The  subject  of  this  chapter  is  the  discussion  of  the 
relations  of  this  small  group  of  only  14.5  per  cent  of 

1.    Abstract,  The  Twelfth  Census,  p.  233. 


454  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

the  population  to  the  economic  and  political  conflict  be- 
tween the  82.8  per  cent  on  the  one  hand  and  the  2.7  per 
cent  on  the  other. 

The  consideration  of  this  group  is  of  very  much 
greater  importance  than  the  small  number  which  be- 
long to  it  would  seem  to  indicate.  Only  2.7  per  cent  of 
the  population  have  been  mentioned  as  belonging,  with- 
out qualification,  to  the  capitalist  class,  but  their  power 
must  not  be  measured  by  their  numbers.  This  small 
percentage  of  the  people  control  all  the  great  avenues 
of  trade,  all  the  great  instruments  of  production,  all  of 
the  necessary  processses  of  exchange,  and  not  only 
have  they  been  able  thus  far  to  maintain  their  position 
as  the  economic  masters  of  the  market,  but  also  as  the 
political  leaders  of  the  remainder  of  the  people.  The 
struggle  for  political  mastery  in  this  country  in  recent 
years  has  been  between  the  people  represented  by  the 
2.7  per  cent  and  the  14.5  per  cent  of  the  population. 
The  82.8  per  cent  have  been  and  are  still  without  politi- 
cal representation  in  the  councils  of  the  nation. 

610.  Economic  Classes  and  Political  Parties.— It  is 
not  accurate  to  say  that  the  Republican  party  repre- 
sents the  2.7  per  cent  and  the  Democratic  party  the 
14.5  per  cent,  as  has  been  frequently  claimed.  War- 
fare between  the  little  business  man  and  the  big  one, 
which  has  been  going  on  in  the  market,  has  appeared  as 
frequently  in  the  councils  of  the  Republican  party  as  in 
those  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  in  neither  party  has 
the  American  middle  class  been  able  to  secure  any  such 
possession  of  political  power  as  to  secure  for  them- 
selves the  political  mastery  of  national  affairs  at  any 
time  in  recent  years.  Still,  the  political  leadership  in 
the  middle  class,  whether  Democratic  or  Republican, 
just  as  in  the  case  of  the  millionaire  politicians,  acting 
as  the  political  leaders  of  82.8  per  cent  of  the  people 
that  is,  of  the  working  class,  has  been  uniformly  an 


CHAP.  XXXIII    MIDDLE  CLASS  AND  SOCIALISM  455 

effort  to  secure  the  votes  of  the  working  class,  not  for 
the  purpose  of  serving  the  economic  interests  of  the 
working  class,  but  for  the  purpose  of  serving  the  econ- 
omic interests  of  the  middle  class,  or  of  the  millionaire 
capitalists,  as  the  case  might  be. 

611.  Socialists  and  the  Working  Class.— The  Social- 
ist movement  is  an  effort  to  protect  the  working  class 
from  further  middle  class  domination  in  this  economic 
and  politcal    warfare.      The    Socialist    movement  is 
simply  an  effort  to  create  a  political  party  devoted  to 
the  championship  of  the  economic  interests  of  the  82.8 
per  cent  of  all  the  people ;  that  is,  of  the  working  class 
as  against  all  others.    The  Socialist  movement  is  an 
effort  to  create  a  political  party  which  shall  represent 
in  politics  the  economic  interests  of  these  exploited 
workers  rather  than  the  economic  interests  of  any 
share  of  the  exploiters— great  exploiters  and  small  ex- 
ploiters being  alike  the  object  of  attack.    The  Socialist 
movement  is  an  effort  to  secure  the  organization  and 
triumph  of  a  political  party  which,  because  it  will  rep- 
resent in  politics  the  economic  interests  of  the  exploit- 
ed only,  will,  when  coming  to  power,  have  no  share  of 
its  constituency  economically  interested  in  betraying 
the  purposes  which  the  party  is  created  to  accomplish. 

612.  Middle  Class  Measures.— All  political  contro- 
versies  between   the   millionaire   capitalist   and   the 
American  middle  class  capitalist  have  been  carried  on, 
not  over  an  effort  to  abolish  capitalism,  but  to  so  con- 
trol public  affairs  as  to  force  the  use  of  public  author- 
ity either  in  behalf  of  the  economic  interests  of  the 
smaller  capitalist  or  in  behalf  of  the  economic  interests 
of    the    larger    capitalist.    These    controversies    are 
simply  conflicts  between  groups  within  the  same  class, 
the  capitalist  class,  to  the  total  neglect  of  the  exploited 
working  class.    The  political  controversy  between  the 
working  class  and  the  capitalist  class  is  not  one  for 


456  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PABT  V 

reforming,  remodeling,  improving,  capturing  or  using 
the  political  power  in  order  to  remodel  and  improve 
capitalism.  It  is  for  the  more  revolutionary  purpose 
of  utterly  and  absolutely  putting  capitalism  out  of  ex- 
istence. 

613.  Only  Two  Parties  Possible.— The  question 
then,  as  to  the  relation  of  the  middle  class  to  the 
Socialist  party  is  at  bottom  the  question  of  the  relation 
of  the  Socialist  party  to  middle  class  measures ;  that  is, 
to  measures  for  reforming  capitalism  for  the  benefit  of 
a  group  of  small  exploiters  rather  than  for  the  aboli- 
tion of  capitalism.  The  conflict  between  the  working 
class  and  the  capitalist  class  is  so  desperate,  so  deter- 
mined, so  fundamental,  and  must  be  so  all-absorbing 
that  in  the  final  encounter  there  can  remain  no  stand- 
ing ground  for  any  third  party  in  American  politics. 
The  capitalists,  reinforced  by  such  workers  as  they  can 
mislead,2  through  the  workers'  ignorance  of  their  own 
class  interests,  must  constitute  one  party,  and  the 
working  men  who,  comprehending  the  nature  of  their 
own  economic  interest,  and  understanding  how  resist- 
less is  their  political  power  if  they  will  only  use  it  in 
their  own  behalf,  must  constitute  the  other  party ;  and 
between  these  two  there  can  remain  no  middle  ground 
on  which  can  be  organized  the  forces  for  the  third  side 
of  a  triangular  fight.  All  conflicts  between  big  capital- 
ism and  little  capitalism  will  disappear  in  the  midst 
of  the  warfare  between  the  friends  and  foes  of  capital- 
ism. The  middle  class  man  will  be  unable  to  propose  any 
middle  class  measures  around  which  he  can  rally  any 
political  following  of  sufficient  numbers  to  secure  po- 
litical power  for  any  program  which  will  attempt  to 

2.  "The  'dangerous  class/  the  social  scum,  that  passively  rotten 
mass  thrown  off  by  the  lowest  layers  of  old  society,  may,  here  and  there, 
be  swept  into  the  movement  by  a  proletarian  revolution;  its  conditions 
of  life,  however,  prepare  it  far  more  for  the  part  of  a  bribed  tool  of  reac* 
tionary  intrigue." — Marx  and  Engels:  Communist  Manifesto,  p.  ?9, 


CHAP.  XXXIII    MIDDLE  CLASS  AND  SOCIALISM  457 

antagonize  the  big  capitalist  on  the  one  hand  and  the 
revolutionary  working  man  on  the  other. 

614.  Economic  Interests  Both  Ways.— The  middle 
class  man,  then,  the  small  manufacturer,  the  small  mer- 
chant and  the  small  farmer,  must  simply  take  sides, 
one  way  or  the  other,  between  the  exploiter  and  the  ex- 
ploited.   Which  way  will  he  go  $    Bear  in  mind  that  we 
have  assumed  that  he  would  go  in  the  direction  of  his 
economic  interests,  and  remember,  if  he  moves  in  the 
line  of  his  economic  interests,  it  must  be  as  between  the 
workingman  on  the  one  hand  and  the  millionaire  on  the 
other.    There  remains  and  there  can  remain  no  other 
alternative.   The  small  merchant,  small  manufacturer 
and  small  farmer  have  economic  interests  in  both  direc- 
tions, but  they  can  have  dominant  interests  only  one 
way.    In  proportion  as  they  are  producers,  by  the  ser- 
vice of  either  mind  or  hand,  they  are  victims  of  exploit- 
ation.   In  proportion  as  their  income  is  derived  from 
the  fruits  of  the  labor  of  others  their  economic  interests 
are  with  the  millionaire.    Here  is  a  farmer  with  forty 
acres  of  land  employing  a  " hired  hand"  occasionally 
to  assist  him  in  his  farm  work ;  a  manufacturer  with 
$3,000  invested  employing  a  journeyman  worker  to 
assist  him  in  his  processes  of  production ;  a  barber,  who 
not  only  works  at  a  chair  himself,  but  employs  an  as- 
sistant; a  miner,  who,  having  " struck  pay  dirt,"  is 
employing  another  to  assist  him  in  bringing  it  to  the 
surface.    Now,  in  all  these  cases,  the  men  are  them- 
selves producers,  and  so  far  as  they  are  producers,  they 
are,  together  with  all  other  workers,  the  victims  of  ex- 
ploitation; but  they  are  also  exploiters,  and  add,  or  at 
least  attempt  to  add,  to  their  income  by  wearing  out  the 
lives  of  others. 

615.  Acting    with    the    Capitalists.— Which    line 
of  their  own  conflicting  interests  will  these  men  follow 
in  the  battle  between  Socialism  and  capitalism!    Sup- 


458  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

pose  they  decide  to  follow  their  economic  interests  as 
business  men,  and  hence,  to  identify  themselves  with 
the  millionaire  capitalists,  as  the  small  business  men 
are  doing,  throughout  the  country,  in  joining  the  Manu- 
facturers' Associations,  Employers'  Leagues  and  Pro- 
tective Unions.  What  will  be  the  probable  outcome 
of  such  an  alliance  for  the  small  business  man!  Either 
the  whole  philosophy  of  economic  evolution,  of  indus- 
trial development,  must  fall  to  the  ground,  or  there  re- 
mains for  the  small  business  man  nothing  but  destruc- 
tion at  the  hands  of  the  large  capitalists.  In  choosing 
between  the  Socialist  and  the  capitalist,  he  is  not  choos- 
ing between  the  saving  or  the  destroying  of  his  small 
business.  His  small  business  is  doomed  under  capital- 
ism, and  he  himself  is  doomed  under  capitalism,  sooner 
or  later,  to  fall  into  the  ranks  of  the  dependent  and 
helpless  wage  workers,  begging  the  millionaire  for  an 
opportunity  to  be  employed. 

616.  Acting  with  the  Working  Classes.— On  the 
other  hand,  suppose  he  considers  his  interests  as  a 
worker.  Is  there  any  way  by  which  he  can  deliver  him- 
self from  the  exploitation  of  which  he  himself  is  now 
a  victim?  Is  there  any  way  by  which  he  can  protect 
himself  from  ultimately  falling  into  the  dependent, 
wage-working  class.  He  certainly  cannot  do  so  under 
capitalism.  There  are  no  laws  which  can  be  enacted; 
there  are  no  enterprises  which  can  be  undertaken;  there 
are  no  political  combinations  which  can  be  effected  with 
other  workers  which  can  deliver  the  little  business  man 
from  exploitation  while  he  continues  to  work  in  his  own 
shop,  or  can  guard  him  from  the  coming  humiliation  of 
seeking  an  opportunity  to  live  at  the  hands  of  the  very 
persons  who  will  have  destroyed  his  own  business.  If 
he  decides  with  capitalism,  he  decides  in  favor  of  con- 
tinuing to  be  exploited  as  long  as  he  remains  his  own 
employer;  and  he  must  further  decide  to  doom  both 


CHAP.  XXXIII    MIDDLE  CLASS  AND  SOCIALISM  459 

himself  and  his  children  after  him  to  economic  depen- 
dence upon  the  very  forces  which  are  destroying  his 
self-employing  industry.  His  only  deliverance  from 
continued  exploitation  as  a  producer,  and  from  ulti- 
mate dependence  upon  his  own  destroyers,  must  come 
from  the  destruction  of  capitalism  and  the  inaugura- 
tion of  the  co-operative  commonwealth.  If  he  can  se- 
cure the  coming  of  Socialism  soon  enough  he  may  be 
able  to  pass  directly  from  self-employment  in  his  own 
small  business  to  self-employment  in  the  co-operative 
commonwealth.  If  the  members  of  his  middle  class 
would  abandon  all  middle  class  measures  and  fight  di- 
rectly for  the  industrial  emancipation  of  all  workers, 
including  themselves  along  with  the  rest,  they  could 
save  themselves  both  from  the  exploitation  which  must 
last  as  long  as  their  self-employment  lasts  and  finally 
from  the  dependent  relations  of  personal  mastery  and 
servitude  which  awaits  them  on  the  destruction  of  their 
self-employing  enterprises.3 

617.  Small  Properties.— Until  recently  the  defend- 
ers of  capitalism  have  asked  with  great  assurance  how 
Socialism  could  ever  be  inaugurated,  because  the  own- 
ers of  small  shops  and  small  farms  would  never  con- 
sent to  being  dispossessed  of  their  property  by  the  in- 
auguration of  Socialism.  This  is  no  longer  a  difficult 
question.  The  trusts  are  either  absorbing  the  small 
properties,  or  what  is  worse  for  the  small  property- 
holder,  leaving  the  title  in  the  hands  of  the  owner,  but 
rendering  the  property  valueless  in  his  hands.  The 
Socialist  does  not  propose  to  take  the  property  away 

3.  "The  lower  strata  of  the  middle  class — the  small  trades-people, 
shopkeepers,  and  retired  tradesmen  generally,  the  handicraftsmen  and 
peasants — all  these  sink  gradually  into  the  proletariat,  partly  because 
their  diminutive  capital  does  not  suffice  for  the  scale  on  which  modern 
industry  is  carried,  and  is  swamped  in  the  competition  with  the  large 
capitalists,  partly  because  their  specialized  skill  is  rendered  worthless  by 
new  methods  of  production.  Thus  the  proletariat  is  recruited  from  all 
classes  of  the  population." — Marx  and  Engels:  Communist  Manifesto, 
pp.  24-25. 


100  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

from  the  self-employed,  and  so  rob  him  of  the  opportu- 
nity of  self-employment,  in  order  to  inaugurate  the  co- 
operative commonwealth.  Self -employment  is  the  very 
thing  for  which  the  Socialists  are  contending.  The 
trusts  are  robbing  all  the  people,  either  of  their  small 
holdings,  or,  indirectly,  of  the  values  of  their  small 
holdings. 

618.  Exploitation  at  the  Shop  Door.— It  is  claimed 
that  exploitation  takes  place  at  the  shop  door,  and  can 
take  place  nowhere  else,  and  therefore  it  is  inferred 
that  those  who  do  not  work  in  shops  can  in  no  way  be 
interested  in  the  problem  of  exploitation.  Exploita- 
tion does  take  place  at  the  shop  door ;  it  does  take  place 
in  the  processes  of  production,  but  production  is  never 
complete  until  the  article  is  delivered,  not  only  in  the 
form,  but  at  the  time  and  place  of  its  final  consumption. 
Therefore,  if  we  are  to  understand  that  exploitation 
takes  place  only  at  the  shop  door,  the  door  of  the  shop 
must  be  placed  so  close  to  the  door  of  the  consumer  that 
no  value  shall  be  added  by  any  added  service  to  any 
given  article  after  leaving  the  shop  of  the  producer  and 
before  entering  the  home  of  the  consumer.  Take  an 
illustration :  for  instance,  a  box  of  oranges  is  sold  and 
delivered  to  a  consumer  in  Chicago  for  five  dollars. 
The  delivery  boy  is  a  wage-worker,  is  the  victim  of 
exploitation ;  but  what  is  taken  out  of  his  service  is  in- 
cluded in  the  five  dollars.  The  bookkeeper  for  the 
house  which  made  the  delivery  is  a  wage-worker,  the 
victim  of  exploitation,  but  what  is  taken  from  her  pro- 
ducts is  a  part  of  the  five  dollars.  The  truck  which 
hauled  the  oranges  from  the  freight  house  is  driven 
by  a  teamster  who  is  working  for  wages,  the  victim  of 
exploitation,  but  the  sum  taken  from  his  earnings  by 
his  employer  is  a  part  of  the  five  dollars.  The  freight 
agent,  the  brakeman,  the  conductor,  the  telegrapher- 
all  along  the  line  of  shipment,  the  men  who  are  engaged 
in  repairing  the  track,  or  assisting  in  any  way  in  bring- 
ing the  oranges  from  California  to  Chicago,  are  all  VIQ- 


CHAP.  XXXIII    MIDDLE  CLASS  AND  SOCIALISM  461 

tims  of  exploitation.  They  are  working  for  wages,  they 
get  only  a  share  of  the  values  they  create,  but  the  share 
they  create  and  get  and  the  share  they  create  and  do 
not  get,  are  both  included  in  the  five  dollars.  The  man 
who  gathered  the  oranges,  the  man  who  cultivated  the 
field,  the  man  who  planted  and  guarded  the  trees,  the 
man  who  made  the  box,  the  man  who  made  the  lumber 
out  of  which  the  box  was  made,  the  lumberman  who 
brought  down  the  logs  from  the  forest  out  of  which 
the  lumber  was  made,  all  are  victims  of  exploitation. 
All  were  working  for  wages,  or  if  not  for  wages  di- 
rectly under  the  eye  of  a  master,  they  are  nevertheless 
dependent  upon  some  share  of  the  same  five  dollars 
for  the  reward  of  their  labor.  If  they  produce  more 
than  they  get,  both  what  they  get  and  what  they  pro- 
duce but  do  not  get,  so  far  as  related  to  this  transac- 
tion, are  included  in  this  five  dollars.  The  shop  door  at 
which  exploitation  takes  place  is  not  alone  in  Southern 
California ;  it  is  not  alone  at  the  freight  office  either  at 
that  end  of  the  transportation  line  or  in  Chicago ;  it  is 
not  alone  at  the  fruit  store.  All  who  had  any  share  in 
growing,  transporting  and  finally  in  delivering  the  or- 
anges to  the  last  purchaser,  who  bought  them,  not  to 
sell  again  but  to  consume  them,  so  far  as  they  helped  in 
the  process,  were  producers.  So  far  as  they  did  not 
help  but  took  advantage  of  the  private  ownership  of 
any  share  of  the  means  of  growing,  transporting  or 
delivering  the  oranges  for  the  purpose  of  compelling 
the  workers  to  create  values  which  they  could  not  keep, 
but  which  the  private  owners  appropriated,  all  these 
are  exploiters,  and  production  and  exploitation  took 
place  all  along  the  line.  The  shop  door  at  which  ex- 
ploitation takes  place  is  found  at  every  place  where 
the  worker  is  separated  from  any  share  of  the  values 
which  his  toil  creates. 

Possibly  the  teamster  owns  the  team;  possibly  the 


462  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PAET  V 

orange  grower  owns  the  patch  of  land,  possibly  the 
fruit  dealer  owns  the  store,  but  they  all  work  long 
hours  with  small  returns,  and  the  values  which  they 
create  are  taken  from  them  under  the  monopolies 
and  wastes  of  modern  capitalism. 

The  millionaire  who  owns  the  road  and  who  charges 
for  carrying  the  oranges  "all  that  the  traffic  will 
i  bear,"  may  be  the  chief  exploiter  of  them  all;  but 
whatever  share  of  the  final  results  go  for  rent,  interest 
or  profit,  that  shaTe  is  taken  away  from  the  workers, 
and  it  is  taken  away  from  them  in  spite  of  themselves 
and  under  conditions  in  which  they  have  no  choice  but 
to  submit.  And  this  is  as  true  of  the  truckman  who 
owned  his  team  as  of  the  delivery  boy  who  rode  in  an- 
other man's  wagon  and  drove  another  man's  horse. 

How  many  of  the  workers  from  the  orchard  grower 
to  the  delivery  boy  can  be  relied  upon  in  the  fight  for 
Socialism?  Is  there  any  deliverance  for  any  one  of 
them  under  capitalism!  Is  there  any  way  out  for  any 
one  of  them  except  Socialism? 

619.  The  Millionaire.— The  millionaires  who  control 
the  transportation  lines,  the  freight  depots,  and  the 
cold  storage  establishments  may  be  conceded  to  be  op- 
posed to  Socialism,  but  there  are  many  reasons  why 
millionaires  ought  to  be  Socialists.  The  certain  de- 
struction of  the  business  interests  of  a  part  of  them 
by  the  business  triumphs  of  the  others;  the  great  un- 
certainty as  to  their  own  business  future;  the  greater 
uncertainty  as  to  the  future  of  their  children,  as  com- 
pared with  the  widest  opportunities  for  living  the  com- 
pletest  human  life,  which  will  be  guaranteed  to  all  un- 
der the  co-operative  commonwealth,  ought  to  appeal 
strongly  even  to  the  millionaires.  But  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  their  economic  interests,  as  million- 
aires, are  strictly  opposed  to  Socialism,  and  further 
that  it  is  directly  against  these  interests  that  Socialism 


CHAP.  XXXIII     MIDDLE  CLASS  AND  SOCIALISM  463 

directs  its  attacks,  and  hence  only  such  millionaires 
can  be  interested  in  Socialism  as  have  other  interests, 
as  men,  which  to  them  are  of  more  importance  than 
their  own  careers  as  exploiters  of  other  men.  No  mil- 
lionaire will  become  a  Socialist  because  of  his  eco- 
nomic interests  as  a  millionaire. 

620.  Emptiness  of  the  Master's  Life.— Such  mil- 
lionaires may  be  said  to  be  the  victims  of  capitalism 
in  a  sense  in  which  the  victims  of  exploitation  are  not. 
No  one  can  know  the  emptiness  and  narrowness  of  a 
life  whose  sphere  of  activity  makes  impossible  the 
comradeship,  the  fullness  and  gladness  of  normal 
human  existence  more  than  the  millionaire  who  has 
been  able  to  take  the  time  and  has  had  the  ability  to 
become  disgusted  with  the  brutal  game  of  trade.  Such 
a  man  may  well  turn  to  Socialism  as  the  only  means 
of  escaping  from  the  limitations  of  a  life  which  can  be 
measured  by  dollars  and  of  securing  admission,  at 
last,  into  the  fellowship  of  rational  human  existence.4 
But  the  Socialist  party  is  not  likely  to  get  so  much 
building  material  from  this  source  as  to  call  for  any 
serious  departure  from  the  building  plans  and  specifi- 
cations adopted  with  the  understanding  that  the  So- 

4.  "Undoubtedly  there  are  bourgeois  who  from  a  feeling  of  justice 
and  humanity  place  themselves  upon  the  side  of  the  laborers  and  Social- 
ists, but  these  are  only  the  exceptions;  the  mass  of  the  bourgeoisie  has 
class  consciousness,  a  consciousness  of  being  the  ruling  and  exploiting 
class.  Indeed,  the  mass  of  the  bourgeoisie,  just  because  they  are  a  ruling 
class,  have  a  much  sharper  and  stronger  class  consciousness  than  the 
proletariat." — Liebknecht :  No  Compromise,  p.  56. 

"Finally,  in  times  when  the  class  struggle  nears  the  decisive  hour, 
the  process  of  dissolution  going  on  within  the  ruling  class,  in  fact  within 
the  whole  range  of  old  society,  assumes  such  a  violent,  glaring  character, 
that  a  small  section  of  the  ruling  class  cuts  itself  adrift,  and  joins  the 
revolutionary  class,  the  class  that  holds  the  future  in  its  hands.  Just  as, 
therefore,  at  an  earlier  period,  a  section  of  the  nobility  went  over  to  the 
bourgeoisie,  so  now  a  portion  of  the  bourgeoisie  goes  over  to  the  prole- 
tariat, and  in  particular,  a  portion  of  the  bourgeois  ideologists,  who 
have  raised  themselves  to  the  level  of  comprehending  theoretically  the 
historical  movement  as  a  whole."  Marx  and  Engels:  Communist  Mani- 
festo, p.  28. 

"The  great  number  and  variety  of  mutually  related  groups  within 
the  state  considered  as  a  whole  is  called  society  in  contrast  with  the 


464  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

cialist  movement  is  primarily  in  behalf  of  the  working 
class  and  solely  and  only  in  behalf  of  men  as  working 
men. 

621.  The  Riddle  of  the  Middle  Class.— But  the 
middle  class  men  who  are  both  traders  and  producers, 
who  are  both  exploiters  and  victims  of  exploitation, 
these  men  have  economic  interests  both  with  the  ex- 
ploiters and  with  the  exploited.  They  can  not  follow 
their  economic  interests  in  both  directions.  They  must 
elect  to  go  one  way  or  the  other.  As  a  class  they  are 
poorly  informed  in  economic  principles,  deeply  moved 
by  their  prejudices,  insanely  ambitious  to  be  counted 
business  men  and  so  to  be  ranked  with  the  class  of  the 
exploiters.  All  of  these  considerations  would  lead 
them  to  do  as  the  great  majority  of  them  are  doing; 
that  is,  act  with  the  Manufacturers'  Associations  and 
Employers '  Leagues  in  their  attacks  upon  the  workers, 
and  hence,  in  opposition  to  Socialism.  All  such  middle 
class  men  are  electing  to  follow  such  economic  inter- 
ests as  they  have  in  common  with  the  millionaire. 
They  are  lining  up  with  the  other  capitalists  in  the  eco- 
nomic class  struggle  against  the  workers  and  against 
their  own  economic  interests  as  workers.  But  it  is  also 
true  that  many  wage  workers  are  affected  by  their 
prejudices  and  are  influenced  by  their  masters  to  act, 
both  in  the  economic  field  and  in  the  political  field 
directly  against  their  own  economic  interests,  and  the 
wage  workers  do  so  with  no  economic  interests  what- 
ever in  common  with  their  masters.  Of  the  14.5  per 

state.  In  this  wider  sense,  society  is  not  different  from  the  state;  it  is 
the  same  thing  viewed  from  another  standpoint.  But  in  a  narrower  and 
more  accurate  sense  of  the  word  each  group  centering  about  some  one  or 
more  common  interests  is  a  society.  This  double  meaning  often  leads 
to  confusion,  which  is  made  worse  because  social  groups  are  not  always 
separated  by  a  hard  and  fast  line.  They  overlap  and  intertwine  so  that 
the  same  men  are  bound  to  one  group  by  one  set  of  interests,  and  to 
another  group  by  another  set." — Gumplowicz:  Outlines  of  Sociology, 
p.  138. 


CHAP.  XXXIII     MIDDLE  CLASS  AND  SOCIALISM  465 

cent  of  the  population  which  falls  to  the  middle  class  in 
the  classification  adopted  above,  only  the  smallest  per- 
centage of  them  gain  as  much  by  being  exploiters  as 
they  are  losing  by  being  exploited,  and  hence  only  the 
smallest  share  of  this  14.5  per  cent  of  the  people  would 
side  with  the  millionaires  if,  after  informing  them- 
selves as  to  the  economic  possibilities  of  Socialism, 
they  would  follow  their  own  most  important  economic 
interests. 

629.— The  Sifting  of  the  Wheat.— The  Socialist 
makes  his  appeal  only  to  the  victims  of  exploitation 
and  has  absolutely  nothing  to  offer  in  the  shape  of 
economic  advantage,  to  the  middle  class,  or  any  other 
class,  which  can  in  any  way  protect  their  interests  as 
exploiters.  There  is  no  possible  way  by  which  the 
members  of  the  middle  class  can  secure  protection  at 
the  hands  of  the  great  capitalists,  who  are  not  only  un- 
able to  protect  and  perpetuate  this  middle  class,  but 
instead  are  actively  engaged,  not  only  in  the  destruc- 
tion of  this  middle  class,  but  even  in  the  mutual  de- 
struction of  their  own  gigantic  enterprises.  (See 
Chapter  X) 

The  defenders  of  capitalism  will  call  to  their  aid  as 
many  of  the  working  class  as  they  can  mislead.  They 
will  win  to  their  support  in  the  political  field  as  many 
of  the  middle  class,  while  they  proceed  to  destroy  them 
in  the  economic  field,  as  they  will  be  able  to  keep  in 
ignorance  of  their  own  economic  interests  as  workers, 
—that  is,  they  will  control  them  through  their  igno- 
rance and  prejudice  after  the  same  manner  as  they  will 
secure  the  support  of  many  wage  workers  who  have  no 
economic  interests  whatever  in  common  with  their 
masters. 

Socialism  can  make  no  appeal  to  any  one  or  to 
any  class  except  to  those  who  are  the  victims  of  ex- 
ploitation and  whose  interests,  as  victims  of  the  ex- 


406  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

plotters,  are  greater  than  any  possible  advantage 
which  can  come  to  them  as  the  fruits  of  exploitation. 
Socialism  makes  its  appeal,  then,  to  working  class  in- 
terests only;  it  declares  war  on  all  exploiters,  great  and 
small,  and  depends  for  its  support  alone  upon  that  vast 
majority  of  the  whole  population  who  are  the  pro- 
ducers of  all  wealth. 

623.  A  Call  to  the  Workers  Only.— Socialists  then, 
may  ask  for  the  support  of  millionaires,  but  if  they 
do  they  cannot  do  so  on  the  ground  that  it  is  the  pur- 
pose of  Socialism  to  protect  or  enlarge  the  exploit- 
ing operations  of  the  millionaires.  A  millionaire  may 
be  appealed  to  as  one  '  '  in  sympathy  with  the  working 
class,"  but  in  doing  so,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
no  economic  interest  can  exist,  on  his  part,  as  the  basis 
of  his  sympathy  with  these  workers  in  the  political 
field  so  long  as  he  continues  to  be  an  exploiter  in  the 
economic  field. 

Socialism  may  make  its  appeal  to  men  who  are 
Both  exploiters  and  the  victims  of  exploitation,  but 
their  appeal  must  be  to  them  solely  and  only  as  the  vic- 
tims of  exploitation,  unless  the  economic  basis  of  the 
argument  is  to  be  abandoned  and  the  appeal  be  made 
to  "  those  in  sympathy  with  the  working  class, "  rather 
than  to  those  of  the  working  class,  and  hence,  whose 
greatest  economic  interest  is  at  one  with  the  working 
class. 

But  the  whole  theory  of  economic  determinism,  as 
seen  in  Chapters  II  and  III,  shows  the  ineffectiveness 
of  any  appeal  to  other  than  dominant  economic  interests 
in  any  great  controversy  involving  the  economic  inter- 
ests of  great  numbers  of  people  as  the  very  subject  con- 
cerning which  these  great  numbers  are  in  dispute. 
Therefore,  the  watchword  of  the  Socialist  propaganda 
and  the  guiding  principle  of  the  Socialist  organization 
must  be  an  appeal  to  working  class  interests  and  to 


CHAP.  XXXIII     MIDDLE  CLASS  AND  SOCIALISM.  467 

these  interests  alone;  and  hence,  and  of  necessity,  to 
all  people  whose  working  class  interests  can  be  shown 
to  be  of  more  serious  concern  to  them  than  any  eco- 
nomic advantage  which  they  may  enjoy  under  capital- 
ism. But  this  would  include  among  those  whose  work- 
ing class  interests  are  of  greater  importance  than  any 
other  interests,  ninety  per  cent  of  the  farmers,  includ- 
ing all  of  the  farm  tenants  and  farm  hands,  and  the 
overwhelming  majority  of  all  the  manufacturers  and 
merchants  with  small  capital  and  who  work  long  hours 
in  carrying  on  their  enterprises.  If  these  men  do  not 
act  with  the  Socialists  it  will  be  because  of  their  ignor- 
ance and  prejudice— not  because  of  their  conflicting 
economic  interests.  They  are  workers  whose  economic 
interests  as  workers  are  of  infinitely  more  importance 
than  any  economic  interests  they  can  possibly  have  as 
capitalists. 

624.  Summary.— 1.  In  American  economic  discus- 
sions the  self-employed  working  people,  who  are  en- 
gaged in  small  farming,  manufacturing  and  commer- 
cial enterprises,  are  spoken  of  as  "the  middle  class." 

2.  As  capitalism  approaches  its  culmination  it  de- 
stroys this  middle  class. 

3.  As  the  Socialist  movement  advances  the  middle 
class  men  must  take  sides  either  with  those  who  are  al- 
together exploiters  or  with  those  who  are  altogether 
the  victims  of  exploitation. 

4.  The  overwhelming  majority  of  the  self-employed 
working  people,  the  American  middle  class,  receive 
only  the  smallest  share  of  their  income  from  either 
rent,  interest  or  profit.    They  find  their  greatest  eco- 
nomic losses  from  exploitation  and  can  find  their  deliv- 
erance only  through  the  coming  of  Socialism. 

5.  Unless  misled  by  ignorance  or  prejudice,  just 
as  the  wage  workers  might  be  misled  as  to  the  real 
nature  of  their  own  economic  interests,  these  economic 


468  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V. 

interests  will  bring  many  of  these  middle  class  people 
to  the  Socialist  party,  and  that  solely  because  of  their 
working  class  relations,  not  because  they  are  "in  sym- 
pathy with  the  working  class,"  but  because  they  be- 
long to  the  working  class. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  is  the  origin  of  the  term  "middle  class"? 

2.  Give  the  English  and  European  equivalents  for  this  term. 

3.  Do  we  have  in  America  the  same  three  economic  classes  as  in 
Europe  ? 

4.  What  people  in  America  have  come  to  be  called  the  middle  class  ? 

5.  What  percentage  of  the  people  fairly  belong  to  each  of  the 
three  classes,  the  great  exploiters,  the  self-employed  who  also  employ 
others,  and  the  wage  workers,  in  the  United  States  ? 

6.  What    relation    do  <the    economic    interests    of    these    classes 
bear  to  the  current  political  parties? 

7.  What  relation  does  the  Socialist  party  bear  to  the  economic 
interests  of  all  these  classes? 

8.  Why  can  there  be  only  two  parties  in  the  final  encounter  between 
capitalism  and  Socialism? 

9.  Show  how  and  why  the  middle  class  has  economic  interests  in 
common  with  both  the  other  classes. 

10.  What  will  come  to  the  middle  class  should  they  act  with  the 
capitalists  ? 

11.  What  if  they  act  with  the  Socialists? 

12.  Explain  how  exploitation  takes  place  at  the  shop  door. 

13.  Will  Socialism  extend  and  protect  the  economic  interests  of 
either  millionaires  or  middle  class  men  as  exploiters  ? 

14.  Are  there  any  reasons  of  any  sort  why  millionaires  should  be 
Socialists  ? 

15.  Are  there  any  economic  reasons  why  millionaires  should  be 
Socialists? 

16.  Are  there  any  economic  reasons  why  middle  class  men  should  be 
Socialists? 

17.  Are  middle  class  men  likely  to  follow  their  economic  interests 
as   working   men?     Why?      Are    wage    workers   misled    for   the    same 
reasons  ? 

18.  To  what  people  and  to  what  interests  may  the  Socialists  appeal 
for  support? 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 

THE  TRUST,   IMPERIALISM   AND   SOCIALISM 

625.  The  Evolution  of   the  Trust.— In   the   tenth 
chapter  of  this  volume  the  trust  has  heen  discussed  as 
related  to  the  evolution  of  capitalism.    It  is  not  neces- 
sary in  this  place  to  repeat  the  substance  of  that  chap- 
ter.   However,  it  should  he  read  again  in  connection 
with  this  further  consideration  of  the  trust  as  a  current 
political  problem. 

626.  The  Problem  and  the  Solutions  Proposed.— 
It  is  admited  by  all  students  that  the  trust  presents  a 
series  of  economic  and  political  difficulties  of  the  most 
serious  importance. 

What  shall  be  done  with  the  trust?  The  following 
measures  have  been  proposed:  (1)  Publicity,  (2)  gov- 
ernment control,  (3)  limitation  of  the  size  of  single 
industrial  organizations,  (4)  putting  trust-controlled 
articles  on  the  free  list,  and  (5)  let  the  nation  own  the 
trusts. 

627.  Publicity.— 1.    As  to  publicity:    It  is  every- 
where known  and  bitterly  complained  of,  that  the  trust 
is  taking  advantage  of  their  vast  industrial,  commer- 
cial and  political  power  to  monopolize  all  the  means  for 
producing  the  means  of  life  for  all  of  the  people,  and 
to  prevent  the  use  of  these  means  of  production  except 

469 


470  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

they  be  used  by  those  who  become  the  servants  of  the 
trust,  and  then  only  on  such  terms  as  the  trust  shall 
name.  To  hold  that  the  misfortunes  of  the  people  inci- 
dent to  the  growth  of  the  trust  can  be  removed  by  a 
special  effort  to  make  more  public  the  nature  of  these 
misfortunes  is  as  absurd  as  to  propose  to  cure  a  fatal 
disease  by  preparing  charts  for  the  instruction  of 
the  patient  that  he  may  more  fully  know  how  hope- 
lessly fatal  is  the  nature  of  his  malady. 

628.  Government  Control.— 2.    As  to   government 
control:  The  fact  is  that  those  most  interested  in  the 
trusts  are  also  the  ones  most  powerful  in  the  control 
of  the  government.    As  long  as  the  trust  controls  the 
government  it  must  be  true  that  government  control 
of  the  trust  is  simply  the  trust  controlling  itself.    If 
government  control  of  the  trust  is  to  be  anything  more 
than  a  farce  the  first  step  to  be  taken  must  be  to  de- 
liver the  government  from  control  by  the  trust.    This 
cannot  be  done  by  dividing  the  country  politically 
along  the  line  of  the  great  trust  on  the  one  hand  and 
the  small  business  interests  on  the  other.    The  working 
class  must  decide  this  question,  and  the  small  business 
interests  cannot  show  the  working  man  where  any  ad- 
vantage is  to  come  to  him  by  overthrowing  the  king  of 
the  trusts  only  to  fall  into  the  smaller,  more  petty,  more 
insecure  and  more  irregular  employments  at  the  hands 
of  a  thousand  petty  and  competing  masters.    The  only 
way  the  trust  can  be  driven  from  the  control  of  the  gov- 
ernment is  by  offering  to  the  whole  body  of  the  work- 
ing people  for  their  own  advantage  all  of  the  advan- 
tages of  the  great  equipments,  perfect  organization  and 
scientific  management  which  have  been  made  possible 
so  largely  by  the  development  of  the  trust.    This  will 
never  be  done  by  any  proposal  of  government  control 
of  the  great  enterprises  in  behalf  of  the  smaller  ones. 

629.  Limiting  Industrial  Organisation.— 3.    As  to 


CHAP.  XXXIV    THE  TRUST,  IMPERIALISM,  SOCIALISM  471 

limiting  the  size  of  single  industrial  organizations: 
This  would  simply  mean  that  a  millionaire  would  then 
be  a  stockholder  in  each  of  many  companies,  all  of 
which  he  would  control  and  all  of  which  he  would  man- 
age with  the  same  results  to  the  rest  of  society  as  have 
come  with  the  single  trust.  It  might  make  book-keep- 
ing more  troublesome,  but  it  would  not  affect  the  re- 
sults.1 And  then,  again,  the  administration  of  the  laws 
proposed  would  still  be  in  the  hands  of  the  same  peo- 
ple against  whom  it  is  proposed  that  they  shall  be 
enacted.2  If  the  government  is  to  come  under  the  con- 
trol of  those  really  opposed  to  the  trust  the  only  class 
large  enough  to  enforce  such  a  change  is  the  working 
class.  The  co-operation  of  the  working  class  in  a  con- 
flict with  the  trust  cannot  be  secured  except  the  eco- 
nomic advantages  which  the  trust  makes  possible  shall 
be  given  to  the  working  class  themselves,  but  limiting 

1.  "Permit  me  in  this  connection  to  show  the  futility  of  legislation 
made  against  the  natural  laws  of  trade  or  business  by  some  historical 
precedents. 

"I  maintain  that  all  laws  that  have  been  made  to  prevent  combina- 
tions of  labor,  to  prevent  combinations  of  manufacturers,  to  prevent  com- 
binations in  produce  or  bread-stuffs,  or  to  prevent  what  I  may  in  a  word 
call  the  free  and  unlimited  exercise  of  commercial  relations,  or  specula- 
tion in  cereals  or  stocks,  have  been  ineffectual  and  abortive,  every  one  of 
them,  and  I  challenge  any  one  to  point  out  to  me  in  English  or  American 
history  any  statutes  which  have  been  passed  to  prevent  these  combina- 
tions that  have  proved  effective.  And  the  simple  reason  is,  that  the  laws 
of  trade,  the  natural  laws  of  commercial  relations,  defy  human  legis- 
lation; and  that  is  all  there  is  in  it.  Wherever  the  two  clash,  the  statute 
law  must  go  down  before  the  operations  of  those  natural  laws.  I  could 
begin  back  as  far  as  the  reign  of  the  Edwards  in  English  history,  and 
trace  the  statutes  that  have  been  passed  against  combinations  of  labor, 
against  the  combinations  of  the  owners  of  produce,  combinations  of  pur- 
chasers or  of  dealers  in  bread-stuffs,  and  I  can  show  you  that  in  every 
instance  these  laws  have  been  abortive.  Whoever  has  the  desire  can  find 
plenty  of  these  instances  in  history." — Dos  Passos :  Commercial  Trusts, 
pp.  71-72. 

"To  'smash  the  trusts/  even  if  practicable,  which  may  be  doubted, 
would  deprive  society  of  mighty  possibilities  for  good.  The  evils  of 
industrial  evolution  are  never  solved  by  going  backward." — Edward  W. 
Bemis,  quoted  by  Nettleton :  Trusts  or  Competition,  p.  153. 

2.  "Society  has  practically  abandoned — and  from  the  very  necessity 
of  the  case  has  got  to  abandon,  unless  it  proposes  to  war  against  progress?" 
and  civilization — the  prohibition  of  industrial  concentrations  and  com- 
binations."— Wells:  Recent  Economic  Changes,  p.  74. 


472  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

the  size  of  the  single  industrial  organizations  will  not 
give  the  economic  advantages  of  the  trust  to  the  work- 
ing class. 

630.  The  Tariff  and  the  Trust.— 4.    As  to  putting 
trust-controlled  articles  on  the  free  list:    It  has  been 
seen,  in  the  tenth  chapter,  that  the  trust  is  already  an 
international  organization  in  many  lines  of  trade,  and 
is  rapidly  becoming  international  in  all  lines  of  trade, 
and,  with  the  great  manufacturing  establishments  of 
so-called  competing  countries  once  owned  by  the  same 
international  trust,  that  then  international  competition 
is  at  an  end.    For  with  the  trust  controlling  the  mar- 
kets on  both  sides  of  the  tariff  line  it  will  fix  the  prices 
for  all  countries,  regardless  of  the  tariff.     No  relief 
from  the  trust  can  come  from  reducing  the  tariff  on  any 
articles  of  any  sort  controlled  by  an  international  trust, 
and  the  international  trust  is  already  a  serious  factor 
in  international  trade.3 

631.  National  Collective  Ownership.— 5.    As  to  the 
national  ownership  of  the  trust:    The  nation  can  own 
the  trust  just  as  soon  as  the  working  people  take  con- 
trol of  the  nation.  It  can  be  brought  about  in  no  other 
way.    When  that  happens  the  working  people  will  be 
able  not  only  to  dispossess  the  masters  of  the  trusts 
from  their  control  of  the  government,  but  from  their 
possession,  monopoly  and  management  of  the  great  in- 
dustries by  virtue  of  whose  existence  the  people  live. 

632.  The  Motive  for  Action.— President  Hadley  of 

"Anti-trust  acts  have  been  so  systematically  evaded  that  they  have 
degenerated  into  a  means  of  blackmail;  and  they  have  often  been  so 
injudiciously  drawn  that  their  enforcement  would  have  paralyzed  the 
industry  of  the  community." — Hadley:  Education  of  an  American 
Citizen,  p.  23. 

3.  "But,  on  the  other  hand,  as  has  been  before  said,  it  must  be  per- 
fectly evident  that  the  removal  of  the  tariff  would  not  destroy  in  this 
country  an  industrial  combination  without  first  destroying  its  surviving 
rivals — while  it  might  also  very  readily  be  in  many  cases  the  one  incen- 
tive needed  toward  bringing  about  a  world- wide  combination  against 
which  tariffs  could  not  avail/'— Jenks :  The  Trust  Problem,  pp.  221-22, 


CHAP.  XXXIV    THE  TRUST,  IMPERIALISM,  SOCIALISM  473 

Yale  University,  says:  "Most  people  object  to  trusts. 
Why?4  Largely  because  they  do  not  own  them."  Pres- 
ident Hadley  is  right.  Let  all  the  people  own  the  trusts 
and  the  trust  problem  is  solved  for  all  time.  This 
proposal  alone  is  in  line  with  industrial  development. 
This  proposal  alone  finds  a  rational  place  and  service 
for  the  trust  in  the  order  of  the  development  of  indus- 
try. This  proposal  alone  can  bring  to  its  support  peo- 
ple, sufficient  in  numbers,  who  are  so  distinctly  mem- 
bers of  another  economic  class  than  the  class  to  which 
the  members  of  the  trust  belong,  that  they  can  out- 
vote the  trust  and  in  so  doing  transfer  the  power  of 
the  government  to  the  control  of  an  economic  class,  the 
members  of  which  will  not  be  interested  in  defeating 
the  public  will  as  related  to  the  trust.  Such  a  political 
party  would  at  once  appropriate  for  the  free  and  equal 
use  of  all  the  people  all  the  economic  advantages  of  the 
equipment  and  organization  of  the  trust.  Such  a 
political  party  could  and  would  do  this  in  spite  of  the 
political  power  of  those  now  in  the  trust.  The  working 
class  is  the  only  class  whose  members  are  without  per- 
sonal interest  in  the  private  ownership  of  the  trust  and 
whose  political  power  is  great  enough  to  destroy  the 
political  power  of  the  trust. 

633.  Completing  the  Social  Revolution.— The  mis- 
fortunes which  follow  in  the  wake  of  the  trust  cannot 
be  remedied  by  the  act  of  the  government  for  the  re- 
lief of  any  share  of  the  people.  Belief  can  come  to 
none  except  it  be  secured  for  all.  The  co-operation  of 
the  working  class,  in  capturing  the  powers  of  the  gov- 
ernment in  order  that  these  powers  may  be  used  to  con- 
trol, tax,  reform,  or  in  any  way  seriously  interfere  with 
the  work  of  the  trust,  cannot  be  secured  for  any  pro- 
gram which  will  not  deliver  into  the  hands  of  the 

4,    Hadley:     Education  of  an  American  Citizen,  p.  25. 


474  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PABT  V 

working  class  and  for  their  own  use  and  benefit  both 
the  powers  of  the  government  and  the  productive  pos- 
sibilities of  the  trust.  But  if  this  were  done,  then  both 
the  industrial  and  political  powers  would  pass  from  the 
handful  of  masters  and  be  established  at  last  in  the 
hands  of  all  the  people.  And  when  that  happens  the 
social  revolution  will  be  complete,  for  that  is  Socialism. 

634.  A  Resistless  Current.— Our  modern  industrial 
and  political  life  is  moving  on  in  a  current  which  has 
come  down  to  us  through  a  hundred  centuries.     Its 
movement  has  been  continuous,  the  current  is  unbroken 
and  it  is  resistless.    The  issue  is  inevitable.    Here  is 
the  order  of  its  advance: 

635.  Universal  War.— It  has  been  seen  how,  during 
the  barbarian  tribal  wars,  the  tribes  trespassed  on 
each  other's  territory  because  of  the  inevitable  proc- 
ess of  growth;  how  strangers  were  enemies;  how  the 
universal  inter-tribal  trespass  caused  universal  inter- 
tribal wars;  and  how  no  such  tribe,  no  matter  how 
peacefully  it  was  inclined,  could  refuse  to  go  to  war, 
and  at  the  same  time  maintain  its  own  existence. 

It  has  been  seen  in  the  same  way  how,  under  feudal- 
ism, as  the  feudal  estates  grew  they  were  compelled  to 
grow  at  each  other's  expense;  and  how  this  situation 
again  led  to  war  as  universal  as  was  the  system  of  feu- 
dalism itself;  how  no  single  prince  or  lord  could  have 
avoided  war;  how  the  only  terms  on  which  any  one  of 
them  could  live  at  all,  was  either  as  the  enemy  or  as  the 
ally  of  some  other  lord.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
industry  and  commerce  of  today.  One  must  fight  the 
combination  or  combine,  and  there  is  no  other  alterna- 
tive.5 

636.  One  World  Military  Power.— The  ancient  tri- 
bal wars  once  undertaken,  could  never  stop  without 

5.    "The  day  is  past  when  the  automatic  action  of  self-interest 
could  be  trusted  to  regulate  prices,  or  when  a  few  simple  principles 


CHAP.  XXXIV    THE  TRUST,  IMPERIALISM,  SOCIALISM  475 

self-destruction  until  all  tribes  were  brought  either 
into  alliance  or  into  subjection.  It  was  this  situation 
itself  which  made  the  ancient  world-powers  inevitable. 
The  final  culmination  of  all  in  Eome  was  not  the  fault 
of  Eome.  Under  the  conditions  of  that  stage  of  the 
world 's  growth  and  having  the  strength  she  had,  Eome 
could  only  choose  between  conquering  and  being  con- 
quered. 

637.  The  Family  of  Nations.— The  modern  nations 
of  the  world  were  reproduced  from  the  fragments  of 
the  ancient  Eoman   territory   by   the   same    process. 
They  came  into  being  through  feudal  development, 
conflict    and  conquest,   which  has   stopped  shor.t  of 
creating  a  single  political  world-power  only  by  com- 
promise, by  establishing  the  "concert  of  powers, "  by 
maintaining  what  is  called    a    "  balance    of    power " 
among  the  ' '  family  of  nations, ' '  by  organizing  a  politi- 
cal trust  for  the  express  and  avowed  purpose  of  pre- 
venting any  one  of  the  powers  from  becoming  the  po- 
litical master  of  any  or  of  all  the  rest.    And  yet  this 
very  "concert  of  powers"  is  in  effect  the  establishment 
of  a  one  world-power,  though  in  the  form  of  subjection 
to  a  combination  of  masters  rather  than  to  a  single  mas- 
ter. 

638.  One  World  Commercial  Power.— While  the 
governments  have  been  balancing  their  extent  of  ter- 
ritory and  strength  of  armies,  and  defending  by  treat- 
ies each  other's  political  existence,  the  industrial  world 
has  outgrown  both  the  political  and  the  military  power 
as  the  dominant  factor  in  the  world  life.    The  soldier 


of  commercial  law,  if  properly  applied,  secured  the  exercise  of  justice  in 
matters  of  trade.  The  growth  of  large  industries  and  of  large  fortunes 
enables  those  who  use  them  rightly  to  do  the  public  much  better  service 
than  was  possible  in  ages  previous.  It  also  permits  those  who  use  them 
wrongly  to  render  the  public  correspondingly  greater  injury.  No  system 
of  legislation  is  likely  to  meet  this  difficulty." — President  Hadley  (Yale) : 
The  Education  of  an  American  Citizen,  p.  4. 


476  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

no  longer  commands  the  service  of  the  trader  nor  dis- 
poses of  the  world's  merchandise  as  he  may  choose. 
Industry  and  commerce  rule  the  world.  The  soldier 
gives  no  orders  to  the  counting  room.  He  gets  his  or- 
ders from  the  counting  room  and  delivers  the  spoils  of 
war  into  the  possession  of  the  counting  room.6 

Between  the  competing  manufacturing  trusts  of  the 
earth,  no  "  concert  of  powers "  has  yet  arisen.  If  it 
should  arise,  it  could  only  affect  the  form  of  the  final 
trust,  not  the  fact  of  its  final  existence.  As  these 
great  trusts  which  control  the  industry  of  millions  of 
people  and  master  the  resources  of  whole  continents 
come  into  conflict  with  each  other,  the  old  rule  of  alli- 
ance or  subjugation  is  inevitable.  The  process  of  com- 
mercial conflict  and  expansion  once  undertaken,  there 

6.  "These  great  businesses — banking,  broking,  bill  discounting,  loan 
floating,  company  promoting — form  the  central  ganglion  of  international 
capitalism.  *  *  *  No  great,  quick  direction  of  capital  is  possible 
save  by  their  consent  and  through  their  agency.  Does  any  one  seriously 
suppose  that  a  great  war  could  be  undertaken  by  any  European  state, 
or  a  great  state  loan  subscribed,  if  the  house  of  Rothschild  and  its  con- 
nections set  their  face  against  it? 

"Every  great  political  act  involving  a  new  flow  of  capital  or  a  large 
fluctuation  in  the  value  of  existing  investments  must  receive  the  sanction 
and  practical  aid  of  this  little  group  of  financial  kings.  These  men,  hold- 
ing their  realized  wealth  and  their  business  capital,  as  they  must,  chiefly 
in  stocks  and  bonds,  have  a  double  stake,  first  as  investors,  but  secondly 
and  chiefly  as  financial  dealers.  As  investors,  their  political  influence 
does  not  differ  essentially  from  that  of  the  smaller  investors,  except  that 
they  usually  possess  a  practical  control  of  the  businesses  in  which  they 
invest.  As  speculators  or  financial  dealers,  they  constitute,  however,  the 
gravest  single  factor  in  the  economics  of  Imperialism. 

"To  create  new  public  debts,  to  float  new  companies,  and  to  cause 
constant,  considerable  fluctuations  of  values  are  three  conditions  of  their 
profitable  business.  Each  condition  carries  them  into  politics,  and  throws 
them  on  the  side  of  Imperialism. 

"The  public  financial  arrangements  for  the  Philippine  war  put  sev- 
eral millions  of  dollars  into  the  pockets  of  Mr.  Pierpont  Morgan  and  his 
friends;  the  China- Japan  war,  which  saddled  the  Celestial  Empire  for 
the  first  time  with  a  public  debt,  and  the  indemnity  which  she  will  pay 
tocher  European  invaders  in  connection  with  the  recent  conflict,  bring 
grist  to  the  financial  mills  in  Europe;  every  railway  or  mining  con- 
cession wrung  from  some  reluctant  foreign  potentate  means  profitable 
business  in  raising  capital  and  floating  companies."— Hobson :  Imperial - 
asm,  pp.  63-65. 


('MAP.  XXXIV     THE  TRUST,  IMPERIALISM,  SOCIALISM  477 

can  be  no  stopping  place  until  a  commercial  imperial- 
ism as  wide  as  the  world  shall  be  established. 

639.  Military  and  Commercial  Imperialism.— The 
ancient  Roman  imperialism  captured  and  ruled  and 
robbed  the  world  by  force  of  arms,  and  trade  was  only 
an  incident  to  the  business  of  war.    Modern  commer- 
cial imperialism  is  capturing  the  world  in  order  to  rule 
and  rob  the  world  by  trade.    The  force  of  arms  is  only 
an  incident  to  this  warfare  of  commerce,  and  no  indus- 
try will  be  able  to  avoid  it.    All  must  struggle  for  ex- 
istence, if  they  are  to  exist  at  all;  and  in  the  end  none 
will  be  able  to  survive  except  in  subjection  to  that  com- 
bination which  shall  finally  become  the  master  of  all. 
Having  become  the  master  of  all,  then  that  commer- 
cialism which  is  essentially  military  in  its  character, 
which  came  into  the  world  through  war,  will  have  at 
last  captured  and  equipped  the  world. 

640.  Industrial    Democracy.— Then    a    world-wide 
peace  and  industry  more  rnarvelously  productive  than 
sage  ever  dreamed  or  prophet  foretold  may  come  to 
all  lands  and  to  all  the  races  of  mankind. 

This  is  what  capitalism  will  offer  the  world  as  its 
share  in  the  growth  of  the  race  in  the  hour  of  its  own 
collapse.  And  then  collapse  it  must,  for  then  the  pros- 
perity of  any  part  of  the  race,  as  the  result  of  its  con- 
quest of  any  other  part  of  the  race,  will  be  no  longer 
possible. 

Then  capitalism  must  yield  to  a  higher  form  of 
industrial  organization,  or  the  race  itself,  together 
with  the  greatest  achievements  of  the  race,  must  col- 
lapse together  with  the  collapse  of  capitalism. 

This  will  be  the  culmination  of  long  centuries  of 
growth.  It  will  be  the  lasting  solution  of  the  problem 
of  the  trust,  and  there  is  no  other.  But  this  is  So- 
cialism. 

641.  Summary.— 1.    For  the  discussion  of  the  trust 


478  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

as  related  to  the  evolution  of  capitalism  see  Chapter  X. 

2.  That  the  trust  presents  serious  economic  and 
political  problems  is  everywhere  admitted. 

3.  Neither  publicity,  government  control,  limitation 
of  the  size  of  industrial  organizations  nor  putting  trust- 
controlled  articles  on  the  free  list  reaches  the  sources 
of  the  misfortunes  associated  with  the  trust. 

4.  The  trust  is  owned  and  controlled  by  an  eco- 
nomic class,  the  exploiters.    The  same  class  controls 
the  government. 

5.  National  collective  ownership  of  the  organiza- 
tion and  equipment  of  the  trust  with  the  national  gov- 
ernment under  the  control  of  the  exploited  class  would 
transfer  both  the  ownership  and  the  control  of  the 
trust,  together  with  all  of  its  benefits,  directly  into  the 
hands  of  all  the  useful  people.    But  that  is  Socialism. 

6.  The  trust  is  the  culmination  of  an  age-long  proc- 
ess of  development.     The    same   forces    which   have 
created  the  trust  must  carry  the  movement  forward  to 
the  collective  ownership  of  the  trust,  or  the  race  must 
largely  lose  the  fruits  of  the  long  centuries  of  growth 
which  have  culminated  in  the  trust. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  Give  an  account  of  the  evolution  of  the  trust.     (Chapter  X). 

2.  What  proposals  have  been  made  as  a  means  of  solving  the  eco- 
nomic and  political  problems  presented  by  the  trust  ? 

3.  What  of  publicity? 

4.  What  of  government  control? 

5.  What  of  limiting  the  size  of  industrial  organizations? 

6.  What  of  the  collective  national  ownership  of  the  trusts? 

7.  Why  is  the  control  of  the  government  by  the  victims  of  exploi- 
tation necessary  to  the  solution  of  the  trust  problem? 

8.  Give  an  account  of  the  military,  political  and  commercial  devel- 
opments which  have  produced  the  trust. 

9.  Contrast  military  and  commercial  imperialism. 

10.  Why  is  Socialism  a  final  settlement  of  the  trust  problem? 


CHAPTER  XXXV 

LABOR   UNIONS    AND    SOCIALISM 

642.  Mediaeval  Towns.— We  have  traced  the  story 
of  the  mediaeval  towns    (Chapter  VIII),  and  have 
noticed  how  they  were  held  in  contempt  by  the  feudal 
lords,  and  how  they  were  recognized  and  given  char- 
ters by  the  kings.    The  towns  had  been  occupied  in  the 
earlier  period  of  feudalism  only  by  those  who  were 
helpless;  they  were  without  influence,  were  unsani- 
tary, and,  in  every  way,  in  conditions  of  great  neglect. 

643.  The    Guilds.— It    was    in    these    towns    that 
the  ancient  trade  guilds  were  formed.    At  first  they 
were  simply  groups  of  kinsmen,  without  formal  organ- 
ization and  existing  as  a  sort  of  family  affair,  created 
solely  for  social  purposes.    It  would  seem  that,  being 
left  out  of  the  life  of  the  castles,  these  groups  were 
either  a  survival  from,  or  a  reversion  to,  the  earlier 
social  forms  of  barbarism  or  savagery,  for  under  both 
savagery  and  barbarism  kinship  was  the  basis  of  all 
social,  economic  and  political  organization.    Anyway, 
beginning  with  informal  groups  of  kinsmen,  they  grad- 
ually advanced  to  more  formal  social  organizations. 
They  attempted  to  provide  for  the  common  welfare, 
for  their  members  when  ill,  to  provide  religious  cere- 

479 


480  CURRENT   PROBLEMS  PART  V 

monies  and  entertainments  for  the  living,  and  to  bury; 
their  dead.1 

In  the  efforts  of  these  workers  to  provide  for  each! 
other  their  organizations  became  industrial  as  well  as 
social.  The  ',owns  being  in  disfavor  with  their  local 
lords,  these  guilds  made  application  to  the  kings  of 
the  realm,  from  whom,  it  has  been  seen,  they  obtained 
charters,  and  were  so  placed  under  the  protection  of 
the  general  government.  They  were  given  authority 
to  govern  themselves,  and  so  became  civic  and  miltary, 
as  well  as  industrial  and  commercial  organizations. 
The  whole  guild  was  responsible  for  the  civil  conduct 
of  all  its  members.  If  any  member  offended,  the  guild 
was  answerable  to  the  general  government,  and  the 
offender  was  answerable  to  his  guild. 

They  organized  along  all  lines  of  trade,  built  and 
fortified  industrial  towns,  which  were  governed  as 
industrial  democracies.  These  towns  were  the  founda- 
tions of  the  free  cities,  and  made  the  beginnings  for 
nearly  all  of  the  leading  cities  of  modern  Europe. 

In  the  organization  of  industry  by  these  guilds  long 
apprenticeships  were  required.  On  becoming  an  em- 
ployer, each  master  was  permitted  to  employ  only  a 
limited  number  of  journeymen  and  apprentices.2  All 
sorts  of  ordinances  were  established  by  the  guilds, 
which  so  limited  and  controlled  the  production  of 
wealth  that  when  modern  trade  was  made  possible,  by 
the  extension  of  the  conditions  of  peace,  and  the  mod- 
ern military  life  was  centralized  by  the  invention  of 
gunpowder,  and  so  together  created  a  demand  for 
goods  which  exceeded  the  power  of  the  guilds  to  sup- 
ply, a  new  method  of  production  supplanted  the  guild 
organizations.3 

1.  Howell:     Trade  Unionism — New  and  Old,  Chapter  I. 

2.  Howell:     Trade   Unionism— New   and   Old,    Chapter   II.;    and 
Greene:    History  of  the  English  People,  pp.  213-220. 

3.  Howell:     Trade  Unionism — New  and  Old,   Chapter  III.;   and 
Smith:     Wealth  of  Nations,  Book  II.,  Chapter  III. 


CHAP.  XXXV        LABOR  UNIONS  AND  SOCIALISM  481 

644.  The  Wage  System.— The  peddlers,  who  had 
done  an  uncertain  business  under  the  preceding  condi- 
tions of  disorder,  being  unable  to   secure  goods  in 
sufficient  quantities  for  the  new  market  from  the  guild 
manufacturers,  became  manufacturers  themselves,  and 
thus  made  the  beginning  of  the  factory  system.    The 
laborers  under  this  new  system  of  production  were  not 
able  to  engage  in  self-employing  labor  like  the  mem- 
bers of    the  builds,  nor  were  they  any  longer    able 
to   secure   a  livelihood   as   serfs   about   the   castles. 
They  were     runaway  serfs,  or     serfs  who  had  been 
evicted  from  the  feudal  estates,  and  were  entirely 
without  either  the  chances  of  the  serfs  in  the  country 
or  the  opportunities  of  the  free  self-employing  labor- 
ers of  the  towns.    They  found  themselves  without  any 
opportunity  of  earning  a  living,  except  as  they  became 
employes  in  these  new  factories,  and  as  has  been  al- 
ready seen,  in  this  helpless  condition  they  bid  against 
each  other  for  an  opportunity  to  be  employed.    This 
was  the  beginning  of  the  wage  system. 

645.  Labor    Organizations.— These    homeless    and 
helpless  workers  were  not  long  in  making  efforts  to 
organize.     Their  first  efforts  to  do  so  were  modeled 
after  the  old  guilds,4  but  there  was  no  such  opportunity 
for  them   to   make  a  beginning  then  as  had  been  af- 
forded the  old  guilds  at  the  time  of  their  beginning 
under  the  conditions  of  disorder,  and  especially  by  the 
protracted  quarrels  between  the  feudal  lords  and  the 
kings,  and  which  secured  for  the  old  guilds  the  pro- 
tection of  the  kings  as  against  the  lords.    The  members 
of  the  old  guilds,  the  proprietors  of  the  new  factories, 
the  interests  of  the  general  government,  as  well  as  both 
the  prejudices  and  interests  of  the  feudal  lords,  all 
conspired  against  the  possibilty  of  these  helpless  work- 
ers achieving  for  themselves  anything  like  the  inde- 

4.    Howell:    Trades  Unionism— New  and  Old,  pp.  29-34. 


482  CURRENT   PROBLEMS  PART  V 

pendent  self-support  which  had  been  achieved  by  the 
older  guilds.  They  were  forbidden  by  law  to  organize, 
and  for  some  four  hundred  years  it  was  a  crime  to  be 
a  member  of  a  working  man's  organization.5  It  was 
during  these  years  of  struggle,  while  the  workers  were 
excluded  from  the  land,  while  they  were  utterly  with- 
out support,  except  as  they  lived  as  hired  men,  while 
they  were  disfranchised  and  so  without  any  voice  in 
the  affairs  of  the  state,  while  their  organizations  were 
outlawed,  and  whoever  plead  their  cause  was  de- 
nounced as  a  demagogue  and  hanged  as  a  traitor,  that 
those  organizations  which  have  grown  into  the  modern 
labor  unions  were  brought  into  existence. 

646.  Great  Service  of  the  Unions.— There   is  no 
question  that  these  labor  organizations  have  rendered 
great  service  to  the  cause  of  labor.      The  right  to  or- 
ganize has  been  secured  by  them,  the  right    of   free 
speech,  of  public  discussion  of  the  interests  of  the 
workers  by  the  workers  themselves,  the  right  to  vote 
and  so  be  a  factor  in  the  general  government,  and  the 
right  to  strike  are  victories  which  have  been  secured 
more  largely  by  labor  organizations  than  by  all  other 
forces  together,  for  the  right  to  do  these  things  under 
the  protection  of  the  law  has  been  secured  only  by  the 
action  of  those  who  organized,  spoke  and  struck  in  de- 
fiance of  the  law. 

647.  London  Working  Men.— When    the    English 
peasants,  in  revolt  under  Wat  Tyler,  reached  London, 
the  workers  within  the  city,  more  than  forty  thousand 
strong,  welcomed  their  coming,  and  the  workingmen 
were  masters  until  assassination  and  betrayal,  the  fa- 
vorite weapons  of  their  masters,  accomplished  their 
overthrow.6 

648.  Pall  of  the  Bastile.— When  in  France  the  final 

5.  Howell:     Trades  Unionism— New  and  Old,  pp.  16,  38  and  45. 

6.  Greene:    History  of  the  English  People,  pp.  266-269. 


CHAP.  XXXV        LABOR  UNIONS  AND  SOCIALISM  483 

battle  of  feudalism  was  to  be  fought  out  in  her  great 
revolution,  the  secret  organizations  among  the  work- 
ers did  the  work  which,  in  the  hour  of  trial,  destroyed 
the  Bastile,  and  with  it  closed  the  story  of  a  thousand 
years  of  one  style  of  aristocratic  torture.  After  the 
fall  of  the  Bastile,  and  until  Napoleon's  artillery  had 
swept  the  streets  of  Paris,  there  was  not  an  hour  when 
the  vitality  of  the  movement  for  liberty,  which  force 
finally  crowded  into  a  capitalistic  republic,  was  not 
found  in  the  strength  of  the  disinherited  and  fearless 
workers.7 

649.  American  .Revolution.— It    was  the  working 
men's    organizations    of    Boston    which    supported 
Samuel  Adams.8    It  was  the  working  men's  organiza- 
tions   of    Philadelphia    which    supported    Benjamin 
Franklin.    It  was  the  working  men  and  farmers  who 
made  up  the  army  of  Washington.    It  was  the  business 
interests  which  opposed  the  Revolution,  and  which 
afterwards  established  a  government  for  the  protection 
of  private  property  regardless  of  the  general  welfare, 
notwithstanding  the  constituional  preamble  declaring 
the  purpose  of  the  same  government  to  be  ' '  to  provide 
.for  the  general  welfare. ' ' 

650.  In  the  Civil  War.— When  the  Civil  War  broke 
out,  from  the  industrial  centers  whole  regiments  of 
soldiers  were  formed  from  the  Labor  Unions  and  from 
the  Turners '  Societies.    It  was  the  working  men  of  the 
North  who  defended  the  Union,  while  capitalists  were 
conspiring  to  rob  it  through  fraudulent  army  contracts 
and  to  compel  the  creation  of  a  public  debt  which 

7.  Carlyle:    French  Revolution,  Vol.  I.,  Book  V.,  Chapter  VI.;  and 
Vol.  III.,  Book  VII.,  Chapter  VII. 

8.  As  an  indication  of  the  important  part  the  workingmen's  or- 
ganizations had  in  the  early  political  life  of  this  country,  it  should 
be  noticed  that  the  word  "caucus"  is  derived  from  the  word  "calkers." 
The  "calkers"  were  the  most  important  body  of  workingmen  in  Boston 
in  the  time  of  the  American  Revolution.     Their  trades  meetings  were 
so  occupied  with  political  matters  that  a  primary  political  meeting  has 
taken  its  name  from  them. 


484  CURRENT   PROBLEMS  PART  V 

would  enable  them  to  continue  their  plunder  of  the 
toilers  forever. 

650.  Story  of  the  Class  Struggle.— The  class  strug- 
gle began  with  the  prehistoric  tribal  wars,  and  can  end 
only  when  the  laborers  can  be  delivered  from  the  in- 
heritance of  industrial  disaster  handed  down  to  them 
from  the  fortunes  of  barbarian  warfare.  This  class 
struggle  was  shown  in  the  servile  rebellions,  when  slav- 
ery had  been  made  the  status  of  the  working  man.  This 
class  struggle  was  shown  in  peasant  wars,  when  serf- 
dom had  been  made  the  status  of  the  working  man. 
This  class  struggle  was  shown  in  the  Labor  Unions  and 
the  strikes,  when  the  wage  system  had  been  fastened 
on  the  toiler,  when  he  had  been  robbed  of  any  op- 
portunity to  use  the  resources  of  the  earth  in  his  own 
right,  had  been  refused  the  right  to  live  without  a  mas- 
ter and  had  not  been  guaranteed  even  the  right  to  have 
a  master.  The  class  struggle  is  shown  now  in  the 
struggle  for  Socialism,  which  is  no  new  thing  in  the 
world.  It  is  the  same  old  warfare,  at  last  informed  as 
to  the  nature  of  the  rights  of  the  toilers  and  equipped 
with  the  power  of  the  ballot  in  the  struggle  to  secure 
these  rights.9 

9.  "There  were  probably  not  more  than  120,000  men  who  had  the 
right  to  vote  out  of  all  the  4,000,000  inhabitants  enumerated  at  the 
first  census  (1790)." — Woodrow  Wilson:  History  of  the  American 
People,  Vol.  III.,  p.  120. 

"The  United  States,  in  1789,  when  its  constitution  was  adopted, 
was  a  limited  democracy.  So,  too,  were  the  commonwealths.  They 
continued  limited  democracies  for  one  generation,  but  the  United  States 
for  two.  The  limitation  was  of  the  franchise.  Jefferson  theorized  that 
a  man  should  vote  because  he  is  a  man.  The  conservative  party  ad- 
ministered the  franchise  as  the  privilege  of  men  who,  by  long  residence, 
if  they  were  not  to  the  manner  born,  by  religious  belief,  and  by  the 

possession  of  property,  could  be  intrusted  with  so  valuable  a  perquisite. 
*    *    *    # 

"In  the  eighteenth  century,  those  who  questioned  the  justice  of  these 
qualifications  were  classed  as  the  anarchists  are  classed  now.  *  *  * 

"By  1820,  the  struggle  for  the  franchise  was  the  chief  issue  before 
the  country.  In  that  year  the  political  reformers  in  Massachusetts, 
led  by  Levi  Lincoln,  sought  to  change  the  basis  of  representation  in  the 
senate  of  that  commonwealth  from  property  to  persons.  Very  distin- 
guished were  the  men  who  in  the  Massachusetts  constitutional  conven- 


CHAP.  XXXV        LABOR  UNIONS  AND  SOCIALISM  485 

A  study  of  Labor  Unionism  as  related  to  Socialism, 
reveals  the  fact  that  both  are  incidents  in  this  historic 
class  struggle.  Socialism  is  not  a  new  fight  in  behalf 
of  the  workers,  it  is  the  same  old  class  struggle  adapt- 
ed to  new  conditions.  The  plans  of  Labor  Unionism 
and  the  plans  of  Socialism  differ  only  as  the  plans  of 

tion  of  that  year  opposed  that  innovation.  Most  venerable  in  years  and 
in  service  among  them  was  John  Adams,  the  author  of  the  constitu- 
tion which  they  were  called  to  amend.  He  asserted  that  the  great 
object  of  government  is  to  make  property  secure,  and  quoted  freely  from 
classic  history  to  show  that  'by  destroying  the  balance  between  prop- 
erty and  numbers,  and  in  consequence,  a  torrent  of  popular  emotion 
broke  in  and  desolated  Athens.'  Therefore,  to  change  the  basis  of  rep- 
resentation in  Massachusetts  would  cause  a  like  desolation  in  that  com- 
monwealth. In  these  opinions  President  Adams  was  supported  by  Jus- 
tice Story,  but  by  none  so  ably  or  so  successfully  as  by  Webster,  who 
spoke  at  length  on  'property  the  basis  of  government.' 

"So  satisfactory  was  this  speech  to  Webster,  both  in  its  ideas  and 
its  form,  that  a  week  after  its  delivery  he  incorporated  it  almost  un- 
changed in  his  Plymouth  oration. 

"The  world  has  long  been  familiar  with  this  classic. 

"Some  leading  passages  seem  now  to  belong  to  the  political  con- 
cepts of  ancient  times: 

"  'If  the  nature  of  our  institutions  be  to  found  government  on 
property,  and  that  it  should  look  to  those  who  hold  property  for  its 
protection,  it  is  entirely  just  that  property  should  have  its  due  weight 
and  consideration  in  political  arrangements. 

"'Life  and  personal  liberty  are  no  doubt  to  be  protected  by  law; 
but  property  is  also  to  be  protected  by  law,  and  is  the  fund  out  of  which 
the  means  for  protecting  life  and  liberty  are  usually  furnished.' 

"He  therefore  concluded  that  property  was  the  just  and  proper 
basis  of  government.  Against  Adams  and  Story  and  Webster,  Levi  Lin- 
coln and  his  political  associates  spoke  in  vain,  and  their  propositions 
were  rejected.  Webster's  speech  was  supposed  to  be  unanswerable. 

"Ten  years  later  [1830],  in  Virginia,  the  struggle  for  the  franchise 
was  a  forlorn  hope  in  the  Richmond  convention.  Eighty  thousand 
white  male  inhabitants  of  the  commonwealth  were  disfranchised  by 
the  property  qualifications  in  the  constitution  of  1776.  These  non- 
free-holders  found  expression  of  their  ideas  in  the  resolutions  sent  up 
to  the  convention  by  the  non-free-holders  of  Richmond.  Although  not 
sympathizing  with  the  spirit  of  this  memorial,  Chief  Justice  Marshall, 
a  member  of  the  convention,  presented  it,  and  afterward  voted  against 
its  favorable  consideration. 

"Two  ex-Presidents  of  the  United  States,  James  Madison  and  James 
Monroe,  and  a  future  President,  John  Tyler,  were  also  manibiTs.  They 
opposed  the  abolition  of  the  free -hold  qualification  for  the  elector. 

"Like  John  Adams  in  the  Massachusetts  couventien  ten  years  be- 
fore, like  Kent  and  King  in  New  York,  like  all  the  eighteenth  cantury 
statesmen  of  America,  Madison  and  Monroe  drew  their  premises  and 
their  political  analogies  from  the  history  of  the  Greek  and  Italian  re- 
publics. 


486  CURRENT    PROBLEMS  PART  V 

a  final  campaign  might  be  expected  to  differ  from  an 
earlier  battle  in  the  same  general  warfare. 

652  The  Old  Unionism.— Labor  Unionism  at  one 
time  refused  membership  to  all  but  a  limited  few; 
it  refused  to  take  part  in  any  political  agitation,  and 

"The  separation  of  government  from  its  true  basis,  property — and 
by  property  was  meant  land — would  destroy  the  state.  President  Mon- 
roe, too  feeble  in  health  to  continue  as  presiding  officer  of  the  conven- 
tion, made  his  last  public  utterance  an  expostulation  against  the  exten- 
sion of  the  suffrage  to  non-free-holders.  *  *  * 

"But  the  man  on  whose  words  the  [Virginia]  convention  hung  was 
Madison,  and  he  thought  that  the  rights  of  property  and  of  persons  were 
inseparable.  Property  was  reliable;  men  were  not. 

"If  universal  suffrage  were  granted,  the  majority  would  not  suf- 
ficiently respect  the  rights  of  the  minority.  The  influential  members  of 
the  convention  supported  Marshall,  Madison  and  Monroe. 

"Though  deprived  of  their  political  rights,  the  eighty  thousand 
non-free-holders  of  the  commonwealth  were  subjected  to  all  the  burdens 
imposed  by  it.  Though  excluded  from  the  polls,  they  were  marshalled 
on  the  battlefield.  Though  they  could  not  vote,  they  were  good  enough 
to  be  summoned  to  the  defense  of  the  state  and  of  those  within  it  who 
exclusively  exercised  the  rights  of  franchise. 

"Experience  had  not  shown  that  free-holders  were  a  dangerous 
class.  They  were  the  mechanics  and  artificers  in  the  commonwealth. 

"The  denial  of  the  right  to  vote  had  forced  the  young  men  of  Vir- 
ginia to  migrate  to  Western  states,  where  such  restrictions  were  not 
tolerated.  *  *  * 

"Yet  the  non-free-holding  white  men  of  Virginia  were  not  so  fa- 
vorably situated  as  free  persons  of  color  in  some  of  the  Western  states. 
Therefore  they  thought  themselves  justly  entitled  to  the  right  to  vote. 

"The  convention  thought  otherwise,  and  the  free-hold  qualifications 
continued  in  Virginia  twenty  years  more. 

"An  unparalleled  political  enfranchisement  [from  1800  to  1900]  ex- 
tended the  right  to  vote,  which  in  1796  reposed  in  only  one -twentieth 
of  the  population,  but  a  century  later  in  one -sixth  of  it — the  nearest 
approach  to  universal  suffrage  in  history." — Thorpe:  A  History  of  the 
American  People,  pp.  532  '  *  34;  536  •  *  38;  556. 

"On  the  eve  of  the  Industrial  Revolution,  England  in  its  social,  in- 
dustrial and  political  organization  was  still  mediaeval.  The  old  view 
which  regarded  the  whole  system  of  social  inequality  as  the  divine 
order  from  the  foundation  of  the  world  still  held  sway.  The  whole 
English  political  system  was  in  the  hands  of  the  king  and  the  great 
landed  and  commercial  classes.  Democracy  in  the  modern  sense  had  not 
yet  appeared  upon  the  political  arena,  for  not  over  one  person  in  five 
hundred  had  a  vote." — Beard:  Industrial  Revolution,  p.  53. 

"The  essential  cause  of  the  growth  of  durable  associations  of  wage 
earners  must  lie  in  something  peculiar  to  the  century.  This  fundamen- 
tal condition  of  Trade  Unionism  we  discover  in  the  economic  revolution 
through  which  certain  industries  were  passing.  In  all  cases  in  which 
Trade  Unions  arose,  the  great  bulk  of  the  workers  had  ceased  to  be 
independent  producers,  themeselves  controlling  the  processes,  and  own- 
ing the  materials  and  the  product  of  their  labor,  and  had  passed  into 
the  condition  of  life-long  wage-earners,  possessing  neither  the  instru- 
ments of  production  nor  the  commodity  in  its  finished  state,  From  the 


CHAP.  XXXV        LABOR  UNIONS  AND  SOCIALISM  487 

asked  for  no  labor  legislation,  and  while  seeking  to 
establish  the  welfare  of  the  workers  it  refused  to  take 
any  advantage  of  the  authority  of  the  state.10  Social- 
ism in  the  same  way  was  at  first  attempted  by  limited 
groups  of  people,  without  regard  to  the  welfare  of  the 
great  mass  of  society,  without  any  dependence  upon 
legislation  and  independent  of  the  authority  of  the 
state.  The  New  Unionism  of  recent  years  has  been  con- 
tinuously enlarging  the  number  of  those  to  be  included, 
and  now  includes  within  its  program  an  effort  to  pro- 
vide for  all  workers  within  its  organization.  It  is 
moreover  represented  in  many  ways  in  the  political 
agitations  of  the  time,  has  been  clamorous  for  legisla- 
tion, and  more  and  more  makes  itself  a  factor  in  poli- 
tics.11 In  the  same  manner  Socialism  has  practically 
abandoned  all  efforts  to  secure  the  benefits  of  the  co- 
operative commonwealth  by  constructing  a  little  com- 
munity of  its  own  within  a  larger  community,  and  has 
no  hope  of  securing  the  benefits  of  co-operation  for  any 
large  portion  of  the  workers,  except  provision  shall  be 
made  for  all.  A  hundred  years  ago  the  agitation  which 
has  finally  ripened  into  the  demand  for  Socialism  at- 
tempted to  realize  its  purpose  without  the  interference 
of  the  state.  Today  the  whole  strength  of  the  move- 
ment for  Socialism  is  organizing  to  make  itself  felt 

moment  that  to  establish  a  given  business  more  capital  is  required  than 
a  journeyman  can  easily  accumulate  within  a  few  years,  guild  master- 
ship— the  mastership  of  the  masterpiece — becomes  little  more  than  a 
name.  *  *  *  Skill  alone  is  valueless,  and  is  soon  compelled  to  hire 
itself  out  to  capital.  *  *  Now  begins  the  opposition  of  interest 
between  employers  and  employed;  now  the  latter  begin  to  group  them- 
selves together;  now  rises  the  trade  society,  or,  to  express  this  Indus- 
trial Revolution  in  more  abstract  terms,  we  may  say,  in  the  words  of 
Dr.  Ingram,  that  'the  whole  modern  organization  of  labor  in  its  advanced 
forms  rests  on  a  fundamental  fact,  which  has  spontaneously  and  increas- 
ingly developed  itself — namely,  the  definite  separation  between  the  func- 
tions of  the  capitalist  and  the  workman,  or,  in  other  words,  between  the 
direction  of  industrial  operations  and  their  execution  in  detail." — Webb : 
History  of  Trade  Unionism — New  and  Old,  p.  24. 

10.  Howelli     Trades  Unionism — New  and  Old,  pp.  74-82. 

11.  Howell:     Trades  Unionism — New  and  Old,  p.  193. 


488  CURRENT   PROBLEMS  PART  V 

throughout  the  world  for  the  purpose  of  capturing  the 
powers  of  the  state,  through  political  action,  in  order  to 
use  these  powers  to  inaugurate  the  co-operative  com- 
monwealth. 

653.  The  Hopeless  Beginning.— At  the  beginning 
of  the  wage  system  the  runaway  serfs  were  hardly 
more  helpless  than  the  founders  of  the  guilds  had  been 
in  the  early  days  of  feudalism.  The  question  has  been 
raised  why  the  early  labor  organizations  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  wage  system  did  not  themselves  become 
productive  organizations  as  had  the  ancient  guilds  at 
the  beginning  of  the  free  cities.  The  answer  is  that 
the  guilds  were  able  to  take  advantage  of  the  quarrels 
between  the  kings  and  their  subject  lords.  At  the  be- 
ginning of  the  wage  system  the  kings  had  become 
triumphant  and  there  was  no  strong  political  authority 
of  any  sort  with  which  the  helpless  workers  could  form 
alliances  and  thus  secure  the  civil  right  to  exist  as 
productive  organizations.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
guilds  the  whole  country  was  broken  into  small 
patches,  each  controlled  by  its  local  lord  or  petty 
prince,  and  whoever  could  get  control  of  such  a  patch 
of  the  earth  could  possess  and  control  the  means  of 
production  within  the  territory  so  possessed.  When 
the  wage  system  was  established  private  possession  of 
land  and,  hence,  the  complete  control  of  the  means  of 
production,  had  been  established  in  the  hands  of  the 
few  and  the  evicted  workers  could  obtain  no  access  to 
the  means  of  production  except  as  the  hired  workers 
of  those  who  had  possession  of  the  earth  and  whose 
possession  was  now  defended  by  the  very  authorities 
which  had  before  both  encouraged  and  chartered  the 
guilds.  At  the  beginning  of  the  free  cities  the  strong- 
est authority  of  the  state  found  it  to  its  advantage  to 
permit  guilds.  At  the  beginning  of  the  wage  system 
the  strongest  authority  of  the  state,  instead  of  encouiv 


CHAP.  XXXV        LABOR  UNIONS  AND  SOCIALISM  489 

aging  labor  organizations,  believed  it  to  be  to  its  ad- 
vantage to  forbid  their  existence,  and  punished  as  trea- 
son to  the  state  all  efforts  to  effect  such  organizations. 

654.  A  World  Movement.— In  the  same  way  it  has 
been  asked  why  Socialism  cannot  be  organized  as  an 
original,  independent,  econmic  creation  after  the  same 
manner  as  the  free  cities  of  Europe  were  established 
in  mediaeval  times,  and  the  answer  is  that  the  economic 
life  of  the  world  has  grown  to  be  a  unit.    There  is  one 
world  market,  to  which  all  products  must  be  brought 
for  sale,  and  from  which  all  the  means  of  life  must  be 
obtained,  and  any  efforts  to  organize  industry  or  com- 
merce, made  by  small  groups  of  people  or  by  any  na- 
tion not  strong  enough  to  do  so  in  defiance  of  all  other 
nations,  even  though  it  were  a  nation  as  active  as 
the  men  of  Cuba,  or  of  the  Philippines,  or  of  South 
Africa,  or  as  populous  as  China,  must  come  to  disaster, 
for  neither  political  nor  economic  life  is  any  longer 
possible,  except  as  an  active  share  of  the  life  of  the 
world. 

655.  Unionism  and  Socialism.— The    purposes    of 
the  Labor  Unions  are  included  in  the  demands  of  the 
Socialist.    The  Unions  propose  to  shorten  the  day  of 
labor,  to  increase  the  returns  of  labor  and  to  provide 
for  all  workers  within  their  organizations.    Socialism 
seeks  to  do  the  same  things.    The  Unions  attempt  to 
secure  these  things  by  the  organization  of  the  trades, 
by  means  of  the  strike  and  by  the  use  of  their  power  as 
a  force  in  politics.    Socialism  goes  directly  to  the  civil 
authority  and  attempts  by  the  union  of  all  working 
men  to  take  possession  of  the  power  of  the  state  and  of 
the  means  of  production,  and  to  jointly  administer  the 
joint  affairs  of  all  the  people,  including  the  organisa- 
tion of  industry,  and,  through  the  political  power  of 
the  working  men,  shorten  the  working  day,  increase 
the  returns  of  labor  to  the  utmost  limit,  as  well  as  pro-. 


490  CURRENT   PROBLEMS  PART  V 

vide  an  opportunity  for  securing  such  employment  and 
such  returns  for  the  labor  of  all  mankind. 

656.  Scope  of  Service.— The  Unions  have  been  and 
are  able  to  greatly  benefit  the  workers  in  all  lines  of 
employment  where  the  workers  are  limited  in  number, 
where  practically  all  the  workers  in  such  an  industry 
are  members  of  the  Union,  and  where  the  trade  is  one 
in  which  the  employers  are  able  to  improve  the  condi- 
tions under  which  the  workers  toil.    But  if  the  workers 
are  large  in  number  and  widely  scattered,  effective  or- 
ganization is  made  very  difficult.    If  a  large  number  of 
workers  in  the  same  trade  are  outside  of  the  organiza- 
tion and  are  ready  to  make  terms  individually  with 
their  employer,  the  men  in  the  organization  are  contin- 
uously defeated  by  those  without,  or  if  the  employers 
are  so  engaged  that  they  are  barely  earning  a  living 
and  are  unable  to  improve  the  conditions  of  their  busi- 
ness, a  strike  could  ruin  the  employers  without  improv- 
ing the  conditions  of  the  workers  themselves.    All  of 
those  trades  which  require  unusual  skill  are  better  able 
to  secure  advantages  through  Labor  Unions  than  those 
engaged  in  common  labor,  because  special  skill  limits 
the  number,  makes  possible  a  completer  organization, 
and  such  workers  are  usually  engaged  in  employments 
which  are  themselves  more  profitable. " 

657.  The  Schools  and  the  Unions.— The  industrial 
schools,  however,  are  providing  specially  trained  but 
unorganized  workers.    Machinery  is  supplanting  the 
trades,  and  is  setting  the  skilled  and  organized  work- 
ingmen  aside,  not  only  for  the  unorganized  and  un- 
skilled men,  but  for  the  women  and  children,  and  final- 
ly the  world-market  is  coming  to  be  not  only  a  market 
in  which  the  price  of  the  products  of  labor  is  deter- 
mined, but  the  price  of  labor  itself.    There  are  devel- 
oping with  remarkable  rapidity  conditions  under  which 
the  workers  who  are  most  poorly  paid,  most  completely 


CHAP.  XXXV        LABOR  UNIONS  AND  SOCIALISM  491 

disorganized— in  short,  who  are  the  most  helpless  in 
the  hands  of  their  employers— will  be  set  to  work  on 
the  other  side  of  the  earth  producing  for  the  markets  of 
the  world.  Great  as  have  been  the  achievements  of  the 
Unions,  important  as  have  been  their  services,  the  diffi- 
culties, which  they  encounter  today  are  becoming  every 
hour  more  serious. 

658.  Socialism    and    Unionism.— Socialism  is  the 
logical  outcome  of  the  centuries  of  agitation,  which  has 
given  us  the  great  organizations  of  labor,  and  the  tri- 
umph of  Socialism  will  enlarge  the  scope,  perfect  the 
organizations  and  make  them  the  political  and  eco- 
nomic masters  of  the  world.12 

659.  Shorter  Hours.— There  is  not  one  purpose  of 
modern  Labor  Unionism  which  is  not  also  involved  in 
Socialism.  Socialism  is  the  most  effective  proposal  ever 
made  for  providing  for  the  world's  comfort  and  at 
the  same  time  shortening  the  hours  of  labor.    Under 
Socialism  there  will  be  no  way  by  which  any  one  can 
get  anything  out  of  the  market  unless  he  has  had  some 
share  in  putting  something  into  the  market.     That 
means  that  all  buyers  must  also  be  workers;  it  means 
that  those  who  toil  will  no  longer    be    required    to 
lengthen  their  hours  of  labor  in  order  to  provide  a 
living  for  those  who  do  not  toil.    Again,  under  Social- 
ism all  unnecessary  labor  will  cease.    It  is  impossible 
to  estimate  how  great  a  saving  this  will  be.    One  hun- 
dred stores  render  the  services  which  one  could  render 
better,  a  dozen  milkmen  render  the  services  which  one 

12.  "In  short,  the  history  of  civilization  is  the  history  of  freedom. 
*  *  *  *  It  has  not  been  by  the  theories  of  philosophers  and  law- 
givers that  political  institutions  ^have  been  formed,  but  by  the  conflict 
of  social  forces  in  the  several  States.  H  They  [the  law-givers  and 

philosophers]  have  given  light  and  guidance  to  leaders  of  popular  move- 
ments; but  no  laws  or  principles  will  avail  until  society  is  ripe  for 
their  acceptance.  Rulers  will  not  willingly  surrender  their  power;  nor 
can  a  people  wrest  it  from  them  until  they  have  become  strong  enough 
to  wield  it." — May:  Democracy  in  Europe,  Vol.  I.,  Introduction,  pp. 
"i.,  xxiv. 


492  CURRENT   PROBLEMS  PART  V 

could  render  just  as  well.  The  complete  organization 
of  the  distribution  of  goods  will  effect  a  saving  in  the 
amount  of  labor  required,  which  would  be  beyond  cal- 
culation, and  all  this  labor  saved  from  doing  needless 
work  would  at  once  be  available  to  reinforce  the  doing 
of  the  necessary  work,  and  so  further  shorten  the  day. 
Again,  most  men  toil  with  imperfect  tools,  in  badly- 
managed  industries,  in  small  enterprises.  Under  So- 
cialism they  will  have  the  best  equipment,  the  largest 
possible  organization,  and  all  industry  will  be  car- 
ried on  under  scientific  methods,  and  so  under  Social- 
ism the  labor  which  must  now  be  performed  to  take 
care  of  those  who  are  idle,  the  unnecessary  labor  result- 
ing from  bad  organization  and  the  ineffective  labor 
caused  by  the  use  of  poor  tools  and  rude  equipment  will 
all  be  saved  and  will  all  be  available  for  shortening  the 
day.  The  demand  of  the  Labor  Unions  for  shorter 
hours  can  never  be  realized  to  its  fullest  possibility  un- 
til the  world's  work  shall  be  undertaken  with  the  com- 
pletest  equipment  and  the  most  perfect  organization, 
and  these  are  possible  only  under  Socialism. 

660.  Increased  Rewards.— Again,  the  Labor  Unions 
demand  increased  rewards  for  the  laborers.  Under 
the  wage  system  no  matter  how  much  the  wages  may  be 
increased,  they  must  always  be  less  than  the  total  prod- 
uct. If  the  workers  were  given  the  total  value  of  the 
product  of  their  labor  in  wages  there  would  be  no 
profits  for  the  management,  and  a  lockout  would  fol- 
low; or  there  would  be  no  interest  for  the  capitalist, 
and  a  foreclosure,  and  hence,  a  lockout  would  follow; 
or  there  would  be  no  rent  for  the  landlord,  and  hence, 
eviction,  and  again  a  lockout  would  follow.  The  only 
way  labor  can  be  employed  at  all  for  wages  is  that  the 
laborer  shall  receive  as  his  reward  less  than  his  labor 
produces.  But  under  Socialism  the  landlord,  the  capi- 
talist and  the  private  manager  do  not  need  to  be 


CHAP.  XXXV        LABOR  UNIONS  AND  SOCIALISM  493 

vided  for.  The  only  claimant  against  the  products  of 
labor  would  be  the  laborer  himself.  The  returns  for  la- 
bor can  never  be  in  excess  of  the  total  product.  Under 
Socialism  they  can  never  be  less  than  the  total  product, 
and  so,  again,  this  demand  of  the  Labor  Unions  can 
never  be  secured  to  the  fullest  extent  except  by  the 
triumph  of  Socialism. 

661.  Employment  for  AIL— Again,  and  finally,  the 
Labor  Unions  demand  that  the  workers  in  any  trade 
shall  come  into  the  organization  of  that  trade  and  bear 
their  share  in  fighting  its  battles  if  they  hope  to  share 
in  the  advantages  of  the  trade,  but  they  have  no  means 
by  which  a  demand  so  reasonable  and  so  just  can  be 
enforced  among  all  workers  everywhere.     The  inter- 
national development  of  industry  brings  into  the  labor 
market  all  the  workers  of  the  earth.    Not  unless  the 
African,  the  Chinaman  and  the  Filipino  can  be  made 
effective  members  of  an  international  Labor  Union  will 
the  Unions  be  able  to  any  effective  degree  to  direct  the 
laborers  in  the  production  of  the  great  staples  of  the 
world's  market. 

662.  The  International  Competitor.— The  ' '  scab ' '  is 
no  longer  the  unorganized  and  hungry  worker,  waiting 
at  the  factory  gate.    He  is  a  whole  race  of  men,  ig- 
norant, sullen,  unorganized,  overpowered  by  the  inter- 
national soldier  and  terrorized  by  international  agree- 
ment, beyond  the  reach  of  the  walking  delegate,  toiling 
under  the  direction  of  the  international  trust,  pro- 
ducing for  the  trust-ruled  and  international  market, 
which  acts  under  the  protection  of  the  new  interna- 
tional imperialism.     The  Labor  Unions  cannot  bring 
deliverance  to  the  workers  away  from  home  until  they 
come  to  possess  the  fullness  of  power  at  home.    They 
cannot  do  effective  missionary  work  among  the  work- 
ers of  other  lands  while  the  authorities  of  their  own 
countries  conspire  to  enslave  the  less  powerful  peoples. 


494  CURRENT    PROBLEMS  PART  V 

All  the  workers  of  the  world  can  never  be  pro- 
vided for  within  the  labor  organizations  until  these  or- 
ganizations shall  be  enlarged,  perfected  and  made  both 
the  political  and  economic  masters  of  the  countries  in 
which  they  exist.13  To  this  end  the  Unions  must  ad- 
vance in  two  directions: 

663.  Industrial  Organization.—!.  The  employers 
now  employ  at  the  same  time  men  working  in  many 
trades.  Carpenters,  masons,  plumbers  all  working  for 
the  same  employer,  are  rapidly  coming  to  understand 
the  advantages  of  a  labor  organization  of  all  those  en- 
gaged in  the  building  industry.  This  is  what  is  meant 
by  the  industrial  organization  of  the  Labor  Unions. 
The  Western  Federation  of  Miners  includes  all  workers 
in  any  way  engaged  in  or  about  the  mines.  This  is 
unquestionably  the  strongest  form  of  labor  organiza- 
tion for  effective  work  in  dealing  with  the  masters. 
It  is  further  an  advantage  inasmuch  as  the  develop- 
ment of  Labor  Unions  along  the  line  of  the  great  in- 
dustries is  making  the  beginnings  under  capitalism  of 
the  very  organizations  most  likely  to  constitute  both 
the  industrial  and  political  subdivisions  in  the  actual 
administration  of  affairs  in  the  beginning  of  the  co- 
operative commonwealth.  The  International  Machin- 
ists' Union,  the  Brotherhood  of  Railway  Employes, 
the  American  Labor  Union,  and  many  Trades  Councils 

13.  "Marxian  Socialism  has  the  candor  to  say,  through  the  mouths 
of  its  most  authoritative  spokesman,  to  the  great  suffering  host  of  the 
modern  proletariat,  that  it  has  no  magic  wand  to  transform  the  world 
in  a  single  day,  as  one  shifts  the  scenes  in  a  theatre;  it  says  on  the 
contrary,  repeating  the  prophetic  extortation  of  Marx,  'Proletarians  of 
all  countries,  unite,'  that  the  social  revolution  cannot  achieve  its  object 
unless  it  first  becomes  a  vivid  fact  in  the  mind  of  the  workers  them- 
selves by  virtue  of  the  clear  perception  of  their  class-interests  and  of 
the  strength  which  their  union  will  give  them,  and  that  they  will  not 
wake  up  some  day  under  a  full-fledged  Socialist  regime,  because  divided 
and  apathetic  for  364  days  out  of  the  year,  they  shall  rebel  on  the  365th 
or  devote  themselves  to  the  perpetration  of  some  deed  of  personal  vio- 
lence."—Ferri :  Socialism  and  Modern  Science,  pp.  143-144. 


CHAP.  XXXV        LABOR  UNIONS  AND  SOCIALISM  495 

and  State  Federations  allied  with  the  American  Fed- 
eration of  Labor,  have  declared  for  industrial  unions. 

664.  Must  Administer  the  Government.— 2.    They 
must  capture  and  directly  administer  the  affairs  of  the 
state.    The  political  power  which  now  speaks  for  in- 
ternational imperialism  must  proclaim  instead  for  in- 
ternational brotherhood.    With  the  prestige  of  the  tri- 
umphant organization  of  the  most  advanced  peoples 
the  organized  working  men  must  go  to  the  more  back- 
ward races.    They  must  not  go  with  the  mission  of  op- 
pression like  the  present  rulers  of  the  world.     They 
must  not  go  with  the  helpless  and  hopeless  cry  of  dis- 
content, as  they  must  do  if  they  go  abroad  before  they 
conquer  at  home.    They  must  go  with  the  strength  and 
power  of  the  new  civilization  behind  them.    This  is  the 
program  of  the  Socialists  as  well  as  the  dream  of  the 
Labor  Unionist,  for  the  Socialist  teacher  will  teach  the 
new  lesson  and  the  Socialist  army  and  navy  in  its  final 
contest  with  capitalism  will  dispose  of  the  oppressor 
and  then  dispose  of  the  militarism  which  made  the  op- 
pressor in  the  first  place.    Unless  Labor  Unionism  shall 
ripen  into  Socialism  the  "scab"  will  become  the  ulti- 
mate worker  in  international  industry.    Under  Social- 
ism all  men  will  be  provided  for  by  the  direct  organi- 
zation of  industry  for  that  purpose,  and  the  hungry 
and  idle  worker  can  no  longer  be  found  to  bid  against 
and  beat  down  the  standard  of  living  of  those  em- 
ployed.   And  so  it  is  seen  that  Socialism  provides  the 
only  way  by  which  the  purposes  of  the  Labor  Unions 
can  be  fully  realized,  the  shortened  day,  increased  re- 
turns and  provision  for  all  the  workers  within  the 
organization.    The  "scab"  must  continue  to  appear  as 
long  as  the  sore  remains.    Socialism  alone  proposes  to 
heal  the  robbed  and  wounded  toilers  of  the  world. 

665.  In  Politics.— If  the  labor  unions  are  to  capture 
the  power  of  the  state  they  must  go  into  politics  to  do 


496  CURRENT   PROBLEMS  PART  V 

so.    There  are  three  ways  for  the  unions  to  be  active  in 
politics : 

666.  The  Labor  Lobby.— 1.    They  can  act  through 
a  labor  lobby  seeking  to  secure  favors  at  the  hands 
of  congress  while  congress  is  controlled  by  the  same 
industrial  masters  against  whom  the  workers  contend 
at  the  shop  door.    Some  advantages  have  been  secured 
in  this  way.    But  the  chances  for  accomplishing  any- 
thing in  this  way  grow  less  as  the  class  struggle  grows 
more  intense  and  the  class  lines  are  more  closely  drawn 
in  the  adminstration  of  affairs  at  Washington. 

667.  Endorsing   Candidates.— 2.    The  unions   can 
endorse  Eepublican  or  Democratic  candidates.    Such 
a  candidate  if  elected  and  called  upon  to  act  in  office 
for  or  against  the  masters  in  the  shops  will  be  obliged 
to  betray  either  the  masters  or  the  working  men.    If  he 
betrays  the  working  men  they  usually  forget.    If  he 
betrays  the  masters  it  means  his  political  and  usually 
his  industrial  ruin.   He  was  pledged  to  both  in  order  to 
secure  his  election.    Being  elected  he  can  serve  only 
one,  and  he  usually  serves  the  masters.14    If  the  whole 
party  could  be  captured  and  made  a  working  man's 
party  outright,  driving  from  its  ranks  all  masters  and 
attracting  to  its  ranks  all  working  men,  that  would  be 
a  different  matter.    But  that  is  not  possible  because 
the  masters  are  in  control  of  the  organizations  of  both 
the  Democratic  and  Eepublican  parties  and  the  ma- 
chinery of  neither  party  can  be  captured  by  the  work- 
ing men. 

668.  The  Shop  Door  and  the  Ballot  Box.— 3.    The 
Unions  can  refuse  to  go  into  politics,  can  abolish  their 

14.  "At  the  Oberlin  Sociological  Institute,  in  June,  1895,  Dr.  Wash- 
ington Gladden  and  Hon.  Carroll  D.  Wright  concurred  with  the  author 
in  the  statement  that  neither  the  Interstate  Commerce  law  nor  the  Anti- 
Trust  law  had  any  enforcement  worth  mentioning,  except  against  labor, 
to  which  they  were  not  intended  to  apply."— Graf ts :  Practical  Christian 
Sociology,  p.  128. 


CHAP.  XXXV        LABOR  UNIONS  AND  SOCIALISM  497 

lobby  and  forbid  all  partisan  endorsements  by  the 
unions  as  such,  leaving  its  members  free  to  act  as  they 
may  elect  while  the  Unions  teach  the  principles  for 
which  the  Unions  stand  and  urge  all  their  members 
to  vote  for  these  principles  whenever  presented  to  them 
at  the  ballot  box.  And  the  members  of  the  unions,  as 
citizens,  can  co-operate  with  all  others  who  stand  for 
these  same  principles,  whether  in  the  Unions  or  not,  in 
building  and  in  making  triumphant  at  the  ballot  box 
a  political  party  of  working  men. 

669.  Union  Not  a  Political  Party.— It  is  frequently 
urged  that  the  Unions  nominate  their  own  tickets  and 
act  directly  as  a  political  party.    In  this  way  it  has  fre- 
quently carried  local  elections. 

But  the  trouble  with  this  is  that  it  makes  the  Union 
a  political  party  in  all  matters  of  controversy  at  the 
shops  divdes  the  workers  and  embarrasses  its  work  as 
a  Labor  Union.  As  a  political  party  it  is  difficult  to 
secure  the  support  of  the  whole  body  of  the  working 
men  at  the  ballot  box  when  it  is  known  that  the  party 
is  answerable  to  only  a  portion  of  those  who  vote  its 
ticket  rather  than  to  all.  Again,  the  working  man's 
party  must  be  national  and  even  international  if  it  is 
really  to  serve  the  interests  of  the  working  class.  The 
Socialist  party  is  already  in  the  field  in  all  the  coun- 
tries of  the  world  where  Labor  Unions  exist.  The  plat- 
form of  the  Socialists  is  the  only  possible  working  pro- 
gram for  a  working  man's  political  party.  Seven  mil- 
lions of  voters  are  already  voting  the  Socialist  ticket. 
The  Labor  Unions  are  everywhere  teaching  their  mem- 
bers the  same  principles  for  which  the  Socialists  are 
contending  at  the  ballot  box. 

670.  A  Working  Program.— All  Socialists  ought  to 
stand  with  the  Unions  for  these  principles  in  every 
encounter  of  the  workers  with    their    masters.     All 
Unionists  ought  to  stand  with  the  Socialists  for  these 


498  CURRENT    PROBLEMS  PART  V 

same  principles  at  the  ballot  box.  Acting  through  the 
Unions,  working  men  must  win  the  greatest  imme- 
diate advantage  in  hours  and  wages  and  so  develop 
the  Union  organization  along  industrial  lines  that 
when  the  same  working  men,  acting  through  the  So- 
cialist party,  shall  have  displaced  the  masters,  now 
in  political  control,  then  their  industrial  organizations 
will  be  found  to  be  in  the  best  possible  condition  for 
the  direct  organization  and  management  of  the  great 
industries  under  the  co-operative  commonwealth.  But 
the  Socialist  party,  or  some  party  standing  for  the 
same  principles  as  the  Socialist  party,— and  that  would 
be  a  Socialist  party— must  win  political  control  of  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth  in  order  that  the  growing  in- 
dustrial organizations  of  the  workers  may  enter  upon 
the  possession  and  management  of  these  industries. 
In  no  other  way  can  collective  ownership,  democratic 
management  and  equal  opportunity  to  be  employed  be 
won  for  all  the  workers. 

671.  Summary.— 1.  The  ancient  guilds  were  a  de- 
velopment of  their  own  times.  They  rendered  impor- 
tant services  to  the  growth  of  society.  They  lost  power 
in  the  world  with  the  passing  away  of  the  conditions 
which  caused  their  existence.  They  could  not  exist 
under  present  conditions,  and  their  existence  would  not 
now  be  desirable  if  it  were  possible. 

2.  The  labor   organizations   which   succeeded   the 
guilds  and  have  grown  into  the  modern  labor  unions 
have  been  both  industrial  and  political  pioneers  and 
have  been  the  most  effective  factors  in  the  struggle  for 
the  rights  of  the  toilers. 

3.  The  Labor  Unions  are  asking  for  labor  legisla- 
tion, and  do  not  hesitate  to  use  their  power  in  politics. 

4.  The  administraton  of  labor  laws,  through  the 
courts  and  by  other  public  officers,  is  quite  as  impor- 
tant as  the  enactment  of  these  laws  in  the  first  place. 


CHAP.  XXXV         LABOR  UNIONS  AND  SOCIALISM  499 

5.  The  legislators  and  the  courts,  and  all  the  of- 
ficers from  sheriff  to  president,  who  have  to  do  with 
the  enactment  and  enforcement  of  laws,  can  be  con- 
trolled in  no  other  way  than  by  controlling  the  political 
party  which  elects  them. 

6.  The  management  of  the  Eepublican  and  Dem- 
ocratic parties  and  of  all  political  parties  anywhere 
now  in  control  is  composed  of  capitalists.    These  par- 
ties are  controlled  by  capitalists,  in  the  interests  of 
capitalism,  and  cannot  be  used  to  carry  out  the  pur- 
poses of  the  Labor  Unions. 

7.  Socialists    are    organizing    and   hope    to   make 
triumphant  a  political  party  composed  of  workingmen, 
supported  by  workingmen,  and  so  controlled  by  work- 
ingmen.   Such  a  party  cannot  fail  to  do  the  bidding  of 
the  working  men,  and  the  working  men  are  every- 
where so  largely  in  the  majority,  as  compared  with 
the  rich  and  idle,  that  whenever  they  can  be  made  to 
understand  the  situation  and  combine  for  action,  they 
will  constitute  a  more  resistless  political  and  economic 
force  than  has  yet  been  known  in  history. 

8.  Socialism  is  the  final  form  of  the  warfare  which 
the  Labor  Unions  have  all  along  been  carrying  on.    So- 
cialism is  the  logical  and  necessary  outcome  of  Labor 
Unionism. 

9.  Every  Socialist  should  be  a  member  of  a  Labor 
Union.    He  should  be  loyal  to  the  organizations  which 
have  accomplished  so  much  in  the  past  and  which  mean 
so  much  for  the  future.    He  should  have  his  share  in 
fighting  its  battles,  winning  its  victories,  and  in  fixing 
its  policy  as  related  to  the  final  struggle  for  the  eman- 
cipation of  labor. 

10.  Every  Unionist  should  be  a  member  of  the  So- 
cialist party.    Unionism  having  fought  the  battles  of 
labor  until  with  a  day's  journey  of  the  final  victory, 


500  CURRENT   PROBLEMS  PART  V 

the  Unionist  ought  to  fall  in  line  for  this  final  fight  for 
the  full  possession  and  the  free  use  of  the  means  of 
producing  the  means  of  life. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  Give  an  account  of  the  ancient  guilds. 

2.  Why  could  not  the  labor  organizations  under  the  wage  system 
repeat  the  history  of  the  guilds? 

3.  Trace  the  class  struggle  from  prehistoric  times  and  state  what 
form  it  has  taken  under  each  new  status  of  the  workingman. 

4.  How  and  why  will  Socialism  end  the  class  struggle? 

5.  How  are  the  plans  of  Socialism  and  of  the  Labor  Unions  related 
to  each  other? 

6.  Show  how  both  Labor  Unionism  and  Socialism  commenced  with 
wholly  voluntary  organizations  and  have  extended  their  plans  to  in- 
clude political  action. 

7.  In  what  ways  have  the  Unions  advanced  the  cause  of  labor? 
Under  what  conditions  can  the  Unions  improve  the  conditions  of  the 
workers  ? 

8.  Show  why  the  shortest  possible  day  and  the  largest  possible  re- 
turns for  labor  are  impossible  under  the  wage  system. 

9.  Why  cannot  all  the  workers  be  provided  for  within  the  Unions 
and  under  the  wage  system? 

10.  How  can  Socialism  shorten  the  day  of  labor,  increase  the  re- 
wards of  labor,  and  provide  employment  for  all  the  workers? 

11.  Why  must  the  Labor  Unions  possess  and  use  the  full  power  of 
the  state  at  home  before  they  can  protect  themselves  from  unorganized 
labor  abroad? 

12.  Why  is  the  party  of  Socialism  the  only  party  which  can  carry 
out  the  plans  of  the  Labor  Unions? 

13.  Why  should  all  Socialists  be  in  the  Unions  and  all  Unionists 
be  in  the  political  party  of  the  Socialists? 


CHAPTER  XXXVI 

MUNICIPAL    MISRULE    AND    SOCIALISM 

672.  Majority  Always  for  Good  Government.— City 
governments  are  everywhere  corrupt.     It  is  claimed 
that  this  is  because  of  bad  men;  but  the  city  govern- 
ments are  everywhere  corrupt  and  are  each  year  grow- 
ing more  corrupt.    It  is  hardly  true  that  men  are  every- 
where bad  and  each  year  growing  worse.    A  man  does 
not  need  to  be  a  very  good  man  to  want  decent  city  gov- 
ernment.   He  does  not  need  to  be  even  good  enough  to 
be  anxious  to  behave  himself.    He  only  needs  to  have 
sense  enough  to  want  other    people    to    behave,  far 
enough  at  least  so  that  they  will  not  rob  him,  nor  mis- 
manage the  schools,  nor  neglect  the  sewers,  nor  protect 
the  criminals,  nor  leave  the  city  in  a  general  way  in 
an  unsanitary  and  disorderly  condition.    All  of  these 
considerations  are  necessarily  of  importance  to  all  of 
the  people.    Without  doubt,  the  overwhelming  major- 
ity of  all  of  the  people  in  all  of  the  cities  desire  good 
government.    Why  are  they  not  able  to  secure  it  ? 

673.  Both  Parties  Alike  in  City  Rule.— The  Demo- 
crats claim  it  is  the  fault  of  the  Kepublicans,  the  Re- 
publicans claim  it  is  the  fault  of  the  Democrats,  but 
the  democratic  and  republican  cities  are  alike  corrupt. 
Temporary  independent  political  organizations,  com- 

501 


502  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

posed  of  men  who  are  either  Bepublicans  or  Democrats 
in  state  and  national  affairs,  contend  that  it  is  the  fault 
of  both  parties.  But  independent  political  parties 
have  never  been  able  for  any  great  period  of  time  to 
greatly  improve  municipal  adminstrations.  It  cannot, 
therefore,  be  the  special  fault  of  either  party  as  com- 
pared with  the  other.  We  must  look  for  the  cause 
somewhere  beyond  the  bad  character  of  individuals,  or 
the  unusual  corruption  of  any  political  party  as  com- 
pared with  any  other  political  party. 

674.  Corrupt  Social  Forces.— As  in  all  other  social 
and  economic  problems,  it  is  a  study  of  social  and  eco- 
nomic forces,  not  a  study  of  persons,  which  must  be  de- 
pended upon  for  a  solution.    There  are  four  such  forces 
necessarily  corrupt  and  present  in  all  modern  cities. 
They  are  the  tax  dodgers,  the  private  corporations  en- 
gaged in  rendering  public    service,    the    professional 
politicians,  and  the  purchasable  voters.     (See  Chapter 
XXXVII  for  fuller  discussion  of  taxation.) 

675.  Tax  Dodgers.— The  great  private  properties  in 
all  the  cities  are  always  endeavoring  to  escape  their 
share  of  the  public  tax  by  controlling  the  public  offi- 
cials whose  duties  are  to  justly  assess  and  to  promptly 
collect  these  taxes. 

676.  Corporations.— These    corporations    are    the 
creatures  of  society.    They  are  brought  into  existence 
by  the  authority  of  society  for  the  express  purpose  of 
rendering  to  the  members  of  society  a  purely  social 
service.    We  are  told  that  these  corporations  ought  not 
to  be  active  in  politics.    They  cannot  come  into  exist- 
ence without  securing  franchises,  and  they  cannot  se- 
cure franchises  without  going  into  politics.    The  fran- 
chises are  granted  by  a  political  body,  and  franchises 
cannot  be  secured  from  such  a  body  except  by  ap- 
proaching that  body  in  some  way.      And  whatever 
method  of  approach  is  adopted,  no  matter  whether 


CHAP.  XXXVI    MUNICIPAL   MISRULE    AND    SOCIALISM  503 

honorable  or  dishonorable,  brings  the  parties  who  are 
securing  the  franchises  into  contact  with  and  into  busi- 
ness relations  with  a  political  body.  It  brings  them 
into  politics.  When  such  a  franchise  has  been  granted, 
and  the  corporation  is  engaged  in  performing  some 
public  service,  the  same  political  authority  which 
granted  the  franchise  will  have  the  legal  power,  under 
the  pretense  of  protecting  public  interests,  to  continu- 
ously interfere  with  the  management  of  the  business 
which  the  corporation  has  been  created  to  carry  on. 
If  the  corporation,  then,  is  to  pay  dividends,  is  to  se- 
cure to  its  stockholders  and  the  management  the  larg- 
est possible  returns,  the  management  of  the  corpora- 
tion must  provide  in  some  way  the  means  by  which  the 
corporation  can  control  its  own  affairs.  Either  the 
municipal  authorities  must  control  the  corporation  or 
the  corporation  must  control  the  municipal  authorities. 
And  this  is  true  without  any  regard  whatever  to  what 
political  party  is  in  power,  or  to  the  character  of  the 
men  in  the  corporation  or  in  public  office.  Either  the 
corporation  must  go  into  politics  to  secure  its  franchise 
or  stay  out  of  business.  Once  in  business,  the  corpora- 
tion must  continuously  stay  in  politics  in  order  to  pro- 
tect itself  from  continual  interference  on  the  part  of 
public  authorities,  or  it  must  stay  in  politics  in  order  to 
control  the  public  authorities.1 

1.  "It  is  doubtless  true  that  in  many  cases  large  sums  are  paid  by 
corporations  to  affect  in  some  way  or  other  the  actions  of  legislatures. 
The  officers  of  the  corporations  or  their  friends,  if  they  speak  at  all 
on  the  subject,  are  likely  to  say  that  'strike'  bills  are  frequently  intro- 
duced in  the  legislatures  for  the  especial  purpose  of  threatening  their 
interests,  in  order  that  certain  of  the  members  may  be  paid  to  withdraw 
the  hostile  bill;  and  that  it  has  been  found  both  cheaper  and  much 
more  effective  to  pay  the  very  few  people  who  employ  this  blackmailing 
plan  than  to  attempt  to  defeat  the  hostile  bill  by  fair  argument.  It 
seems  also  to  be  true  at  times  that  a  bill  which  may  be  entirely  proper 
and  even  beneficial  to  the  public  in  its  nature,  but  which  also  favors 
particularly  the  interests  of  some  of  the  larger  corporations,  may 
be  opposed  by  the  party  leaders  or  by  individual  representatives,  until 
an  amount  of  money  has  been  paid  either  to  party  managers  or  to 
enough  individual  members  of  the  legislature  to  secure  the  passage  of 


504  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

677.  Professional  Politicians.— In  speaking  of  pro- 
fessional politicians  no  reference  is  made  to  the  large 
number  of  public-spirited  citizens  who  are  all  the  time 
endeavoring  to  protect  public  interests  from  private 
abuse  or  to  improve  the  general  character  of  public  in- 
stitutions. No  one  will  dispute,  however,  that  in  every 
city  there  is  a  very  large  number  of  citizens  who  have 
no  convictions  on  public  questions,  no  public  interests 
of  any  sort,  no  reason  whatever  for  being  either  Demo- 
crats or  Eepublicans,  and  whose  sole  interest  in  poli- 
tics is  to  secure  for  themselves  the  spoils  of  public  of- 
fice. It  is  rare  indeed  that  any  municipal  convention 
held  by  either  of  the  great  political  parties  ever  escapes 
from  the  control  of  politicians  of  this  variety.  All 
questions  of  public  interest,  of  political  importance  and 
of  general  party  policy  are  held  secondary  to  the  per- 
sonal advantage  of  these  self-seeking  politicians. 

the  bill.  Not  long  since  a  bill  which  was  said  to  be  entirely  in  the 
public  interest,  as  well  as  in  that  of  one  of  the  large  corporations, 
could  be  passed  in  the  legislature  of  one  of  our  larger  states,  it  was  re- 
ported, only  by  the  payment  of  $150,000  to  the  leader  of  the  party  in 
power.  Some  of  the  larger  corporations,  business  men  say,  expect  to 
set  aside  for  such  uses  a  considerable  sum  to  be  charged  to  business  ex- 
pense. 

"Before  a  committee  of  Congress,  Mr.  Havemeyer  testified  that  the 
American  Sugar  Refining  Company  contributed  in  some  States  to  the 
campaign  fund  of  the  Republican  party,  in  others  to  that  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  the  intention  being  to  stand  well  with  the  dominant  party 
in  each  State."— Jenks:  The  Trust  Problem,  p.  190-192. 

"The  corporations  concerned  with  our  great  local  monopolies  are  so 
closely  associated  with  municipal  government  as  to  complicate  all  prob- 
lems of  reform  and  improvement.  This  is  inevitable  so  long  as  present 
arrangements  continue.  This  is,  indeed,  the  great  evil  in  private  owner- 
ship of  public  utilities.  This  private  ownership  results  in  an  antag- 
onism of  interests  between  the  most  powerful  classes  in  cities,  and  the 
cities  as  a  whole.  It  is  absolutely  inevitable  that  a  city  should  exercise 
a  measure  of  control  over  the  corporations  which  furnish  public  utilities. 
It  is  also  absolutely  inevitable,  with  human  nature  as  it  is,  that  these 
corporations  should  enter  politics,  in  order  to  prevent  this  control  from 
taking  forms  which  they  look  upon  as  hostile  to  their  interests.  One 
peculiarity  of  the  situation  is  this:  That  the  strongest  elements  in  the 
community  are  directly  and  indirectly  interested  in  these  private  cor- 
porations. 

"We  continually  hear  complaint  made  about  the  apathy  and  in- 
difference of  our  best  citizens.  It  seems  strange  that  it  occurs  to  people 
so  seldom  to  inquire  into  the  underlying  cause  of  this  apathy  and  in- 


CHAP.  XXXVI    MUNICIPAL   MISRULE   AND   SOCIALISM  505 

The  spoils  of  office  'do  not  consist  of  the  salaries  only. 
There  are  franchises  to  be  given  away,  so  far  as  the 
public  is  concerned,  but  to  be  sold  for  a  consideration, 
so  far  as  the  corporations  and  the  politicians  are  con- 
cerned. There  are  tax  dodgers  to  be  protected  and 
assessors  and  boards  of  review  and  of  equalization  to 
be  rewarded  for  giving  protection.  There  are  con- 
tracts to  let  involving  vast  sums  of  money  and  public 
interests  of  the  greatest  importance.  There  is  hardly 
a  city  where  private  contractors  engaged  in  improving 
streets,  or  building  sewers,  or  lighting  the  city,  do  not 
exercise  more  political  influence  than  all  the  schools, 
churches  and  editors  combined.  But  the  placing  of 
these  contracts  is  an  important  part  of  the  public  serv- 
ice, and  the  man  in  office  is  in  a  position  to  betray  the 
public  in  the  interest  of  the  contractor  engaged  in  con- 
structing or  improving  public  works,  and  then  to 
compel  the  contractor  to  divide  the  spoils.  Again,  there 
are  jobs  to  distribute,  and  this  does  not  mean  simply 
the  men  whose  names  appear  on  the  public  pay-roll. 
The  employes  of  the  private  corporations  in  the  great 
cities  are  largely  engaged  on  the  recommendation  of 

difference.  We  might,  indeed,  first  of  all,  ask  the  question:  Are  we  not 
combining  altogether  contradictory  terms?  Is  it  possible  that  a  citi- 
zen can  be  at  the  same  time  a  good  citizen  and  apathetic  and  indif- 
ferent about  the  character  of  the  government  of  the  city  in  which  he 
lives.  If  the  citizen  were  really  a  good  citizen,  would  he  not  exert  him- 
self in  behalf  of  his  city,  his  state,  and  his  country?  Passing  by,  how- 
ever, any  reflections  of  this  kind,  is  it  not  natural  to  suppose  that  there 
must  be  some  underlying  cause  for  this  apathy  and  indifference?  Is  it 
not  quite  possible  that  in  many  cases  these  best  citizens  are  gaining 
more  than  they  lose  by  precisely  the  kind  of  municipal  government 
which  exists  at  the  present  time?  A  distinguished  divine,  in  an  address 
before  the  Marquette  Club,  of  Chicago,  expressed  himself  as  follows: 
'If  we  were  to  awake  to-morrow  morning  and  find  that  all  the  aldermen 
in  the  city  hall  were  honest  men,  a  lot  of  our  most  respectable  citizens 
would  be  found  running  around  town  like  chickens  with  their  heads  cut 
off,  seeking  to  protect  the  franchises  their  attorneys  have  plotted  and 
schemed  and  bribed  to  get  for  them.  You  say  our  intelligent  men, 
wealthy  men,  our  brainy  men,  should  be  aided  in  this  reform.  It  is 
our  intelligent  men  who  are  looting  the  community.  They  don't  want 
municipal  reform.  Present  conditions  are  too  profitable.'" — Ely:  The 
Coming  City,  pp.  66-69. 


506  CURRENT  PROBLEMS 

the  mayor,  tlie  aldermen  or  the  " strongest  man"  in  the 
various  wards.  Thus  it  is  seen  that  the  salaries  at- 
tached to  the  public  offices,  the  prices  paid  to  office- 
holders for  public  franchises,  the  commissions  to  the 
public  officer  for  the  placing  of  public  contracts,  and 
the  advantage  a  political  adventurer  has  of  being  able 
to  play  the  role  of  an  employer  because  of  his  relations 
to  the  corporations,  are  all  sources  of  income  and 
means  of  power  for  this  great  group  of  professional 
politicians. 

678.  Purchasable  Voters.— The  purchasable  voters 
are  a  much  larger  group  than  those  who  sell  their  votes 
for  dollars  or  for  drinks.  Corporation  employes  who 
hold  their  positions  on  the  recommendation  of  active 
politicians,  as  well  as  the  great  group  of  public  em- 
ployes, are  directly  interested  in  the  results  of  mu- 
nicipal elections,  because  their  employment  is  directly 
involved.  But  there  is  a  much  larger  and  a  more  pow- 
erful group  of  voters  even  than  these  who  are  essen- 
tially purchasable,  and  in  whose  case  the  consideration 
is  neither  free  dollars  nor  free  drinks.  There  is  a  large 
number  of  people  in  every  great  city  who  earn  their 
living  in  lines  of  employment  subject  to  police  control. 
The  business  may  be  regularly  licensed  and  perfectly 
legitimate,  as  the  business  of  an  expressman,  or  it  may 
border  on  the  criminal  line,  that  is,  because  of  its  char- 
acter or  the  character  of  its  patrons,  it  may  be  directly 
connected  with  the  lawless  portions  of  the  community. 
It  is  of  the  greatest  importance  to  all  persons  doing 
business  under  a  license  of  any  sort  to  keep  the  peace 
with  the  police  department;  it  is  of  the  greatest  impor- 
tance to  those  engaged  in  lines  of  business  not  per- 
mitted under  the  law,  but  usually  tolerated  by  the  po- 
lice, to  keep  the  peace  with  the  police  department. 
There  is,  again,  the  large  number  of  voters  whose  only 
appreciation  of  the  value  of  their  ballots  is  the  price 


CHAP.  XXXVI    MUNICIPAL   MISRULE   AND    SOCIALISM  507 

9 

they  will  bring  on  election  day,  but  these  voters  are 
largely  bought  and  sold  through  the  places  of  public 
resort,  subject  to  police  control.  It  will  be  seen,  then, 
that  the  number  of  people  in  a  great  city  who  have  di- 
rect personal  business  reasons  for  voting  one  way  or 
another  regardless  of  the  public  interest  is  very  large. 
679.  Always  False  Issues.— Now,  there  is  one  thing 
that  is  true  of  all  these  interests,  of  the  tax  dodgers, 
of  the  corporations,  of  the  politicians  and  of  the  pur- 
chasable voters,  namely,  none  of  them  are  in  a  posi- 
tion to  state  to  the  general  public  exactly  what  they 
want  and  why  they  are  fighting  for  any  particular 
party  in  any  particular  campaign.  If  the  tax  dodger 
should  say  he  was  dodging  his  taxes,  and  was  support- 
ing a  candidate  in  order  that  he  might  continue  to  do 
so,  he  would  defeat  his  candidate.  If  the  corporation 
should  tell  the  people  that  it  wishes  certain  persons 
elected,  because  they  will  not  interfere  with  the  cor- 
poration's business  and  will  permit  the  furnishing  of 
inferior  gas,  of  polluted  water,  or  of  over-crowded  and 
unheated  cars,  to  the  great  advantage  of  the  corpora- 
tion and  to  the  great  injury  of  the  public,  the  public 
would  never  vote  for  its  candidates.  If  the  politicians 
should  state  frankly  that  the  reason  they  wish  their 
party  to  win  in  an  election  is  because  of  the  salaries, 
the  private  commissions  secured  through  the  granting 
of  licenses,  the  letting  of  contracts,  the  protection  of 
tax  dodgers,  or  the  sale  of  franchises,  or  the  levying 
of  blackmail  on  forbidden  callings,  the  general  public 
would  resent  the  proposal,  and  would  bury  the  party. 
If  the  purchasable  voters  should  frankly  state  that 
they  are  anxious  for  their  party  to  win  because  it 
means  police  protection  for  a  questionable  business, 
or  for  the  improper  conduct  of  a  legitimate  business,  or 
for  private  jobs,  or  for  drinks,  or  dollars,  the  public 
would  never  vote  for  such  a  program.  The  only  way 


508  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PARTY 

that  tax  dodgers,  corporations,  politicians  and  pur- 
chasable voters  can  secure  what  they  want  is  to  all  the 
time  pretend  to  be  fighting  for  something  else. 

680.  Dividing  the  Voters.— But  this  would  not  be 
sufficient  to  insure  their  control  except  for  the  fact  that 
state  and  national  political  parties  are  able  to  divide 
the  larger  portion  of  the  people  between  the  Bepublic- 
ans  and  the  Democrats,  or  if  this  fails,  to  hold  the  divi- 
sion then  by  organizing  "citizens'  parties"  and  "inde- 
pendent parties"  in  such  a  way  as  to  still  divide  the 
people  who  all  the  time  desire  good  government,  and  in 
this  way  persuade  them  to  vote  against  each  other  and 
thus  cancel  each  other's  votes,  while  the  tax  dodgers, 
the  corporations,  the  politicians,  the  purchasable  vot- 
ers, by  acting  together,  usually  first  with  one  party  and 
then  with  another,  are  able  all  the  time  to  hold  them- 
selves in  control. 

681.  Pooling  Interests  by  Corrupt  Forces.— The  tax 
dodgers  and  corporations  have  few  votes,  but  they  have 
plenty  of  dollars.    The  politicians  have  few  dollars,  but 
they  -are  willing  to  do  anything  to  get  dollars,  or  votes 
for  the  sake  of  dollars.    The  purchasable  voters  are  not 
numerous  as  compared  with  the  rest  of  the  community, 
but  they  are  anxious  for  the  best  price  in  drinks  or  dol- 
lars, or  jobs,  for  the  votes  they  sell,  or  for  the  guarantee 
of  protection  from  interference  through  the  police  de- 
partment for  their  private  enterprises,  or  their  public 
crimes,  and  all  these  together,  with  the  rest  of  the  com- 
munity voting  in  opposition  to  each  other  on  general 
measures,  are  numerous  enough  to  hold  the  balance  of 
power  between  political  parties  and  in  this  way  all  the 
time  control  elections  and  corruptly    administer,    in 
their  own  behalf,  the  general  interests  of  all  the  great 
centers  of  population.    The  tax  dodgers,  the  corpora- 
tions, the  politicians,  and  the  purchasable  voters  have 


CHAP.  XXXVI     MUNICIPAL   MISRULE    AND    SOCIALISM  509 

pooled  their  interests  and  are  acting  together  the  world 
over. 

682.  Socialism  and  Municipal  Misrule.— Municipal 
misrule  as  related  to  Socialism  involves  two  important 
considerations.    First,  what  will  become  of  the  corrupt 
forces  of  municipal  life  under  Socialism;  and,  Second, 
what  could  the  Socialist  party  do  if  in  control  of  a 
municipality  before  securing  control  of  the  general 
government,  and  hence  while  being  obliged  to  ad- 
minister the  affairs  of  a  city  under  the  laws  and  insti- 
tutions established  by  capitalism. 

683.  Tax  Dodgers,  Corporations,  Politicians  and 
the  Socialists.— First,  both  taxation  and  the  tax  dodger 
will  cease  to  exist  under  Socialism. 

Second,  the  establishment  of  the  co-operative  com- 
monwealth, by  abolishing  the  private  corporation,  will 
utterly  destroy  the  power  in  public  matters  of  the  pri- 
vate corporation  which  is  rendering. a  public  service. 

Third,  the  co-operative  commonwealth  will  utterly 
destroy  the  power  of  the  professional  politician  so  far 
as  he  is  able  to  secure  for  himself  an  unusual  salary, 
private  reward  for  the  sale  of  franchises,  commissions 
for  placing  contracts,  blackmail  in  connection  with 
licenses  or  crimes,  or  private  spoils  in  the  distribution 
of  jobs,  because  none  of  these  will  be  possible  under  So- 
cialism. Franchises  will  be  neither  sold  nor  given 
away;  the  contract  system  as  related  to  public  works 
will  not  exist,  and  the  best  possible  employment  will 
be  guaranteed  to  all,  regardless  of  their  relations  to 
any  political  party. 

684.  Why  No  Purchasable  Voters  Under  Socialism. 
—Fourth,  under  the  co-operative  commonwealth,  the 
purchasable  voter  will  utterly  disappear,  for  the  rea- 
son that  under  the  co-operative  commonwealth  his  vote 
will  involve,  neither  the  matter  of  protecting  himself 
in  a  questionable  business,  nor  in  the  improper  conduct 


510  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PARTY 

of  a  legitimate  enterprise,  as  is  now  the  case,  but  will 
then  involve  all  of  the  problems  that  from  day  to  day 
are  related  in  any  way  to  his  employment,  his  hours  of 
labor,  his  subsistence,  and  all  other  questions  related 
in  any  way  whatever  to  the  collective  management  of 
the  collective  industries  of  the  co-operative  common- 
wealth. There  would  be  no  private  contractors,  or  pri- 
vate spoilsmen  in  public  office  with  personal  advan- 
tages to  them  of  sufficient  importance  to  put  them  into 
the  market  as  the  purchasers  of  the  votes  of  others; 
but  if  such  a  thing  were  possible,  the  personal  interests 
of  the  individual  voter,  in  the  just  and  efficient  adminis- 
tration of  public  affairs,  would  be  so  great,  under  the 
co-operative  commonwealth,  that  no  private  boodler 
could  afford  to  pay  a  sufficient  price  in  the  purchase 
of  a  vote  to  make  it  of  advantage  to  any  voter  to  sell 
his  ballot  for  the  advantage  of  another,  rather  than  to 
use  his  ballot  to  protect  and  provide  for  himself.  The 
political  job,  even  if  it  could  be  conceived  to  exist  un- 
der Socialism,  will  lose  its  power  to  attract  when  de- 
cent, industrial  employment  shall  be  the  right  of  all. 
Give  to  all  men  and  women  the  opportunity  for  reason- 
able, respectable,  clean  and  honest  work,  and  question- 
able enterprises,— lawless  methods  of  providing  one's 
livelihood,  will  be  utterly  abandoned.  Socialism,  then, 
will  settle  the  problem  of  municipal  corruption  by  put- 
ting out  of  existence  the  great  political  forces  which 
are  now  the  sources  of  municipal  corruption.  Social- 
ism will  remove  both  the  motive  and  the  opportunity 
for  municipal  misrule. 

685.  While  Capitalism  Remains.— Again,  the  So- 
cialist party  will  not  be  able  to  do  all  these  things  un- 
til it  is  in  control  in  the  nation,  because  only  then  can 
it  inaugurate  the  co-operative  commonwealth.  But  in 
any  city  it  could  immediately  and  greatly  improve  the 
adminstration  of  local  affairs.  Today  the  corpora- 


CHAP.  XXXVI    MUNICIPAL   MISRULE   AND   SOCIALISM  511 

tions  and  tax  dodgers  furnish  the  money,  the  politi- 
cians do  the  unclean  work,  and  the  purchasable  voters 
furnish  the  only  vote  sufficiently  large,  under  the  guid- 
ance of  the  professional  politician  and  influenced  by 
the  funds  of  the  corporations  and  tax  dodgers,  to  con- 
trol elections. 

686.  Corrupting  Forces  Put  Together  and  Out  of 
Power.  The  Socialist  party  will  directly  antagonize 
the  private  corporations  and  the  tax  dodgers,  because 
of  the  nature  of  its  general  proposals,  and  having  their 
opposition,  would  drive  them  into  the  party  of  op- 
position to  Socialism,  and  together  with  the  cor- 
porations and  tax  dodgers,  all  of  the  forces  of  munici- 
pal corruption  which  the  corporations  and  tax  dodgers 
can  control,  including  the  professional  politicans  and 
the  purchasable  voters.  Wherever  the  Socialist  party 
has  approached  the  point  of  promising  an  early  victory 
for  the  Socialist  party,  all  other  political  parties  have 
combined  in  a  single  organization  to  withstand  Social- 
ism. This  being  the  case,  while  the  Socialist  party 
cannot  locally  inaugurate  the  co-operative  common- 
wealth and  so  destroy  the  forces  which  corrupt  munici- 
pal administrations,  it  can  drive  all  of  these  forces 
of  municipal  corruption  into  one  political  party,  and 
by  carrying  the  election  put  that  party  out  of  power. 

But  what  would  be  the  nature  of  the  relations  of 
the  Socialist  party  to  these  same  corrupt  political 
forces?  Not  until  the  co-operative  commonwealth 
could  abolish  corporations,  and  by  giving  employment 
to  all,  rob  the  professional  politician  of  the  unusual  sal- 
aries and  of  the  spoils  of  office  and  put  out  of  exist- 
ence the  purchasable  voter  by  making  the  vote  of  all 
men  and  women  of  such  great  economic  value  to 
themselves  that  no  one  could  afford  to  sell,  and  no  one 
could  afford  to  buy,  could  the  forces  of  municipal  cor- 
ruption be  put  out  of  existence.  But  the  Socialist 


512  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PARTY 

party  coming  into  power  in  defiance  of  these  forces 
and  in  spite  of  their  opposition  would  not  be  obliged 
to  keep  the  peace  with  them  in  order  to  return  to 
power.  The  Socialist  vote  would  be  composed  of  the 
voters  whose  public  interests  would  be  real  and  genu- 
ine. They  would  be  interested  in  improving  the  pub- 
lic schools,  and  maintaining  sanitary  conditions,  in 
abolishing  the  outrage  of  private  blackmail,  and  in 
securing  the  greatest  benefits  to  the  public  from  pri- 
vate corporations,  so  long  as  private  corporations 
remain  in  the  public  service.  An  adminstration  which 
would  enable  a  Socialist  party  to  hold  its  own  votes 
together,  would  necessarily  antagonize  the  corpora- 
tions and  their  corrupt  folio  wings  in  municipal  affairs. 

687.  Keeping  Them  Out.— So  long  as  these  corrupt 
forces,  tax  dodgers,  private  corporations,  professional 
politicians  and  purchasable  voters  remain,  so  long  mu- 
nicipal corruption  cannot  be  entirely  set  aside.     So 
soon  as  the  co-operative  commonwealth  is  established, 
municipal  misrule  will  cease,  because  the  causes  of  mu- 
nicipal misrule  will  cease  to  exist.     So  soon  as  the 
Socialist  party  shall  come  into  control  of  any  city,  the 
tax  dodgers,  the  corporations,  the  professional  politi- 
cians and  the  purchasable  voters  will  be  shorn  of  their 
greatest  power  by  forcing  them  into  one  political  party 
and  by  putting  that  party  out  of  power  in  the  munici- 
pality.   The  tax  dodgers  and  the  corporations  would 
be  obliged  to  deal  with  public  officers  whose  election 
they  had  done  their  best  to  prevent  and  who  would  find 
the  continual  enmity  of  the  tax  dodgers  and  corpora- 
tions the  strongest  element  in  securing  their  own  re- 
election. 

688.  Summary.— 1.    City    governments    are    uni- 
formly corrupt. 

2,    Tax  dodgers,  corporations,  professional  politi- 
cians and  purchasable  voters  are  directly  and  greatly 


CHAP.  XXXVI     MUNICIPAL   MISRULE    AND    SOCIALISM  513 

interested  in  having  the  city  administrations  corrupt. 

3.  The  whole  body  of  voters  are  kept  divided  while 
the  corrupt  forces  unite,  and,  acting  first  with  one 
party  and  then  with  the  other,  control  the  city  all  the 
time. 

4.  When  Socialism  comes  the  tax  dodger,  the  cor- 
poration, the  professional  politician  and  the  purchas- 
able voter  will  all  disappear. 

5.  The  sources  of  corruption  having  been  removed, 
municipal  corruption  will  also  disappear. 

6.  A  local  municipal  victory  could  not  establish  So- 
cialism, but  the  Socialist  party,  because  of  its  general 
program,  would  drive  the  tax  dodger,  the  corporation, 
the  professional  politician  and  the  purchasable  voter 
all  into  one  party  and  by  carrying  the  election  put 
that  party  out  of  power. 

7.  The  Socialist  party  could  remain  in  power  only 
by  continuously  provoking  the  opposition  of  these  cor- 
rupting forces  by  a  just  adminstration  of  affairs. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  Are  virtuous  citizens  the  only  ones  who  desire  good  govern- 
ment?   Why? 

2.  Why   are  both  the  Democratic  and  Republican  parties   alike 
corrupt  in  city  matters? 

3.  What  are  the  sources  of  municipal  corruption? 

4.  Why  are  the  tax  dodger,  the  corporation,  the  politician  and  the 
purchasable  voter  all  personally  interested  in  misrule? 

5.  What  is  the  personal  interest  of  each  ? 

6.  Why  cannot  the  corporation  stay  out  of  politics? 

7.  What  is  included  in  the  spoils  of  office? 

8.  Who  are  the  purchasable  voters? 

9.  Why  is  a  false  issue  always  necessary? 

10.  What  share  does  each  of  the  corrupt  forces  undertake  in  carry- 
ing elections  in  their  own  interests  ? 

11.  Why  do  they  pool  their  interests  ? 

12.  Why  will  not  these  same  forces  prevail  under  Socialism? 

13.  How   can   the    Socialist    party,   better   than    any   other   party, 
meet  these  forces  in  a  local  city  election,  while  capitalism  continues 
to  rule  the  state  and  nation? 


CHAPTER 

UNJUST   TAXATION    AND    SOCIALISM 

689.  Justice  in  Taxation  Impossible.— Taxation  is 
an  old  subject,  is  always  the  subject  of  controversy, 
and  its  discusion  is  always  characterized  by  charges 
of  corruption;  and  yet  not  all  of  the  difficulties  con- 
nected with  the  subject  of  taxation  under  capitalism 
are  to  be  attributed  to  the  corruption  of  public  officials 
or  the  dishonesty  of  the  tax  payers.  (See  Chapter 
XXXVI  for  tax-dodging  as  a  cause  of  municipal  cor- 
ruption.) Assessments  are  ordinarily  by  townships, 
sometimes  by  counties.  Assessments  are  always  sup- 
posed to  be  made  for  less  than  the  actual  cash  value. 
Boards  of  review,  in  attempting  to  readjust  the  work 
of  different  assessors,  must  do  so  largely  without  per- 
sonal knowledge  of  the  facts  involved.  State  boards 
of  equalization  usually  have  the  power  to  raise  or 
lower  all  assessments  in  a  given  county,  but  not  to 
enter  into  the  matter  of  differences  in  the  valuations 
as  made  by  the  various  assessors  within  the  counties. 
For  many  years  in  Chicago,  if  the  original  assessment 
had  been  fairly  made  in  any  particular  case,  the  final 
equalization  by  the  state  board  would  have  raised  the 
amount  of  the  taxes  in  that  case  to  such  a  rate  as  to 
more  than  absorb  the  annual  property  value.  In  that 

514 


CHAP.  XXXVII     UNJUST    TAXATION    AND    SOCIALISM  515 

city  the  only  way  that  the  individual  taxpayer  can 
protect  himself  from  the  confiscation  of  his  property 
by  taxation  is  to  make  untruthful  representations  as 
to  the  value  of  the  property  at  the  time  the  assessment 
is  made.  All  assessments  for  personal  property  are 
likely  to  be  mere  guesses,  and  again,  result,  in  many 
cases,  in  the  greatest  injustice  even  when  the  assessor 
is  doing  his  best. 

690.  Indirect  Taxation.— Indirect  taxes,  as  tariff 
and  internal  revenue  charges,  are  always  unfair,  inas- 
much as  it  proportions  the  public  burden  upon  the  pro- 
portion of  consumption  of  certain  articles  rather  than 
on  property  values.    It  would  be  hard  to  find  a  reason 
why  a  man  who  uses  tobacco  should  be  required  to  pay 
more  taxes  than  one  who  does  not.    It  would  be  harxl 
to  find  a  reason  why  people  should  be  required  to  pay 
taxes  at  a  time  and  in  a  manner  which  makes  it  impos- 
sible for  them  to  determine  what  share  of  their  pay- 
ments may  be  properly  figured  as  living  expenses  and 
what  share  as  taxes. 

These  difficulties  are  inherent  in  capitalism,  and 
no  kind  of  tax  reform  can  be  devised  so  long  as  capital- 
ism remains  that  will  prevent  injustice  being  done  even 
when  public  officials  are  doing  their  best. 

691.  Property  Which  Can  Be  Hidden.— There  are 
three  kinds  of  property  subject  to  assessment ;  the  one, 
property  which  is  easily  hidden,  such  as  securities, 
bonds,  diamonds,  jewelry  and  other  personal  belong- 
ings.   This  property  rarely  pays  taxes.    The  tax  roll  of 
any  great  city  will  reveal  how  absurd  is  the  idea  of  sup- 
posing that  property  subject  to  assessment  and  capable 
of  being  hidden  pays  any  just  share  of  the  burdens  of 
taxation.    For  the  practical  purposes  of  this  discus- 
sion we  may  admit  that  property  which  can  be  hidden 
escapes  taxation. 

692.  Cannot  Be  Hidden— Held  in  Small  Holdings.— 


516  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PARTY 

Next,  is  the  property  which  cannot  be  hidden,  but  is 
owned  in  such  small  holdings  that  the  owners  cannot 
afford  to  take  the  time  and  incur  the  expense  necessary 
to  control  the  assessor,  the  equalization  boards,  or 
whatever  public  authority  may  for  an  inducement 
neglect  to  collect  or  remit  without  collecting  taxes  once 
assessed.  Such  properties  include  the  teams  and 
wagons  of  expressmen,  the  stocks  of  goods  of  small 
merchants,  the  tools  of  small  shops,  the  homes  of  the 
poor,  real  estate  held  in  small  amounts,  and  all  ordi- 
nary farming  property.  The  owners  of  such  property 
are  rarely  able  to  control  the  assessor  and  the  boards 
who  have  authority  to  review  the  work  of  the  assessor. 
The  burden  of  taxation  falls  upo,n  such  properties  and 
they  have  no  means  of  escape. 

693.  Cannot  Be  Hidden— Held  in  Large  Holdings. 
—The  third  and  last  class  which  we  consider  is  prop- 
erty which  cannot  be  hidden,  but  is  held  by  corpora- 
tions, or  by  private  parties,  with  the  holdings  suffi- 
ciently large  to  enable  the  owners  to  make  it  pay  to 
give  attention  to  securing  control  of  the  assessor  and 
of  all  other  public  officers  in  any  way  connected  with 
the  subject  of  taxation.  They  cannot  hide  their  prop- 
erty, but  they  can  elect  a  clerk,  or  a  personal  depend- 
ent, or  a  member  of  the  corporation  to  be  the  assessor, 
or,  as  a  notorious  tax  dodger  recently  remarked, 
"Even  when  the  assessments  have  been  made,  it  is  one 
thing  to  assess  and  another  thing  to  collect,  with  the 
great  corporations  so  largely  in  control  of  the  courts. " 
Eailways,  street  car  companies,  great  department 
stores,  great  manufacturing  establishments,  mining 
corporations,  great  industrial  organizations  of  all  sorts 
usually  maintain  a  special  department  devoted  exclu- 
sively to  the  subject  of  avoiding  the  payment  of  taxes.1 

1.    "I  have  studied  autocracy  in  Russia  and  theocracy  in  Rome,  and 
I  must  say  that  nowhere,  not  even  in  Russia,  in  the  first  years  of  the 


CHAP.  XXXVII  ...  UNJUST   TAXATION   AND    SOCIALISM  517 

As  long  as  the  corporations  control.— and  as  long  as 
capitalism  lasts  the  corporations  must  control,— so 
long  the  great  properties  will  escape  their  just  share  of 
the  public  burden,  and  the  small  properties  will  pay 
the  cost  of  maintaining  the  state,  whose  authority  will 
be  constantly  used  by  the  large  enterprises  in  the  proc- 
ess of  destroying  the  small  ones.  And,  again,  so  long 
as  capitalism  lasts  it  will  be  impossible  to  devise  any 
systems  of  assessment,  and  scheme  of  taxation  which 
will  protect  the  man  whose  enterprise  is  too  small  to 
make  it  possible  for  him  to  control  the  assessor,  against 
the  enterprise  which  is  so  large  that  it  cannot  afford 
not  to  control  the  assessor.2 

694.  Public  Charges  Under  Socialism.— The  com- 
ing of  Socialism  will  abolish  all  this,  for  under  Social- 
ism it  is  inconceivable  that  society  would  consent  to 
any  system  of  taxation.  The  keeping  of  the  public  ac- 
counts and  any  services  which  may  be  found  necessary 
as  a  means  of  adjusting  disputes  of  such  a  nature  as  to 
call  for  public  attention,  would  be  masters  of  the  pub- 
lic's business.  The  cost  of  doing  these  things  would  be 
a  part  of  the  cost  of  production.  Instead  of  the  gross 
products  of  particular  workers  being  distributed  to 
them  from  the  public  stores,  and  then  another  depart- 

reaction  occasioned  by  the  murder  of  the  late  czar,  have  I  struck  more 
abject  submission  to  a  more  soulless  despotism  than  that  which  prevails 
among  the  masses  of  the  so-called  free  American  citizens,  when  they  are 
face  to  face  with  the  omnipotent  power  of  corporations." — Stead:  If 
Christ  Came  to  Chicago,  Quoted  in  Lorimer's  Christianity  and  the  Social 
State,  p.  203.  See  also  p.  204. 

2.  "But  thoroughgoing  Socialism  or  Collectivism  would  probably 
deny  that  any  limit  upon  the  tax  power  is  justifiable  which  stops  short 
of  the  proximate  realization  of  their  distributive  ideal.  It  is  right  here 
that  the  sociological  side  of  finance  becomes  of  prime  importance.  The 
present  constitution  of  private  property  has  been  challenged.  Whether 
this  institution  can  or  ought  to  be  changed,  if  so  to  what  degree:  wheth- 
er the  distribution  of  the  social  dividend  can  be  effected  upon  another 
basis  than  the  present  one — these  are  the  points  of  contact  between  col- 
lectivism and  the  industrial  constitution  of  modern  society.  In  short, 
the  battlefield  where  Socialism  will  not  improbably  assail  the  conser- 
vative forces  of  society  lies  within  the  domain  of  finance," — Daniels: 
Public  Finance,  p.  6, 


518  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

ment  of  public  service  created  to  inquire  after  personal 
possessions,  and  to  levy  taxes  for  public  purposes,  any 
public  expense  necessary  for  the  public  welfare,  under 
any  possible  system  of  co-operative  production,  would 
be  directly  provided  for  by  the  collectivity  before  dis- 
tribution to  the  various  workers  would  be  made. 
Such  expenditures  would  be  of  the  same  nature  as 
charges  for  fuel,  for  light,  for  oil,  for  machinery,  for 
repairs  on  the  tools  of  production,  and  would  be  a  part 
of  the  running  expenses,  a  part  of  the  cost  of  carrying 
on  the  industrial  co-operative  commonwealth.  These 
services  being  a  part  of  the  work  of  production,  the 
persons  performing  these  services  would  be  rewarded 
like  other  producers,  not  by  levying  a  tax  upon  any 
or  all,  but  by  directly  using  such  a  share  of  the  social 
products  as  would  be  necessary  for  such  social  pur- 
poses. 

695.  Taxation  Under  a  Local  Socialist  Administra- 
tion.—What  effect  will  the  victory  of  the  Socialist 
party  have  in  any  particular  locality  on  the  subject 
of  taxation,  in  that  locality,  before  a  general  national 
victory  shall  make  possible  the  inauguration  of  Social- 
ism? The  most  careless  examination  of  the  tax  assess- 
ments in  any  community  will  reveal  that  great  injus- 
tice is  being  wrought  under  capitalism  against  those 
who,  if  they  own  property,  own  it  largely,  not  for  the 
purpose  of  exploiting  others,  but  for  the  purpose  of 
occupying  it  as  their  homes,  or  for  the  purpose  of  using 
it  in  the  employment  of  their  own  labor;  and  this 
wrong  is  done  by  the  great  properties  which  exist  sole- 
ly for  purposes  of  exploitation. 

It  is  sometimes  claimed  that  a  Socialist  victory,  in 
any  given  town,  would  immediately  raise  the  tax  rate. 
If  the  rate  of  assessment  were  left  at  the  current  rate 
and  the  large  properties  fairly  assessed  at  that  rate, 
the  public  income  would  be  enormously  increased.  As 


CHAP.  XXXVII    UNJUST   TAXATION   AND   SOCIALISM  519 

a  matter  of  fact,  Socialist  assessors  have  been  able  to 
greatly  reduce  the  rate  of  assessment  and  at  the  same 
time  greatly  increase  the  public  income.  This  brings 
relief,  rather  than  distress,  to  the  small  tax  payer.  In 
other  words,  the  most  rational  result  of  such  a  Social- 
ist victory  would  be  to  make  a  much  harder  hunt  for 
hidden  property,  that  it  might  be  subjected  to  taxation, 
and  so  far  as  possible,  to  adjust  the  assessments  so  as 
to  prevent  the  millionaire  tax  dodgers  from  corruptly 
using  the  power  of  public  office  to  shift  the  burdens  of 
taxation  from  themselves  upon  those  less  able  than 
themselves  to  pay.  Either  the  Socialist  administration 
would  directly,  dishonestly  and  discriminately  work 
against  the  poorer  man  and  in  behalf  of  the  great  cor- 
porations, as  the  present  assessors  do,  or  else  such  re- 
lief for  the  poorer  people,  and  such  an  increase  of  pub- 
lic income  must  follow  a  local  Socialist  victory. 

696.  Oppressive  Taxation  and  Socialism.— It  is 
claimed,  too,  that  if  the  Socialists  were  permitted  to 
administer  the  affairs  of  any  given  municipality  that 
they  would  so  increase  the  tax  assessment  as  to  direct- 
ly destroy  all  property  value.  As  soon  as  Socialism 
can  be  inaugurated,  the  Socialists,  whatever  plans  may 
be  adopted  for  meeting  necessary  public  charges,  will 
in  all  probability  abolish  the  assessor's  office,  and  all 
schemes  of  taxation  which  attempt  to  collect  back  from 
the  people  any  share  of  that  which  is  admitted  to  be- 
long to  them  as  individuals.  But  until  Socialism  is  in- 
augurated the  Socialist  party,  in  any  given  locality, 
could  not,  even  if  it  would,  very  greatly  increase  the 
rate  of  assessment,  for  the  reason  that  whatever  the  So- 
cialists would  undertake  would  be  subject  to  the  review 
of  the  courts,  and  the  state  and  federal  judges  would 
not  be  answerable  to  the  Socialists.  Suppose  a  given 
city  should  be  carried  by  the  Socialist  party  and  an 
assessment  should  be  levied  by  the  Socialists  which! 


520  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

would  amount  to  the  confiscation  of  property  values, 
then  citizens  of  other  states  through  the  federal  courts 
could  and  would  restrain  a  proceeding  of  that  sort. 
The  taxing  power,  exercised  by  local  Socialist  adminis- 
trations, so  long  as  capitalism  lasts,  must  be  exercised 
in  such  a  way  as  not  to  lay  themselves  liable  for  having 
attempted  anything  which,  under  the  rules  of  capital- 
ism, could  be  construed  to  be  a  violation  of  property 
rights,  by  a  state  or  "federal  court  directly  opposed  to 
the  position  of  the  Socialists.  Whenever  the  Socialists 
have  the  power  to  control  the  courts,  they  would  also 
have  power  to  abolish  capitalism  and  the  whole 
scheme  of  taxation  along  with  capitalism. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  Socialist  administration,  in  the 
nature  of  the  case,  having  been  put  into  power  locally 
by  the  votes  of  working  men,  would  naturally  increase 
the  school  funds,  enlarge  the  sanitary  expenditures, 
and  in  every  way  make  whatever  funds  were  available, 
under  such  taxation  as  they  would  be  able  to  enforce, 
render  the  greatest  possible  service  to.  the  working 
people. 

697.  Who  Pays  the  Taxes?— The  question  as  to  who 
pays  the  taxes,  that  is,  whether  the  taxes  are  a  part 
of  the  sums  which  in  the  distribution  of  the  products 
of  labor  have  been  used  in  the  payment  of  wages  or 
rent  or  interest  or  profit,  is  not  a  question  of  such  seri- 
ous importance  as  it  has  sometimes  been  held  to  be. 
Admitting  that  the  iron  law  of  wages  rules,  then  taxes 
cannot  be  collected  from  that  bare  subsistence  of  the 
worker,  and  must  come  from  the  share  of  the  product 
which  has  fallen  to  the  exploiters.  But  taxes  may  be 
one  of  the  items  of  the  expense  of  living.  Thus  the 
landlord  pays  taxes  and  collects  rents.  Unless  his 
rents  cover  what  he  pays  for  taxes  his  enterprise  will 
not  be  profitable  to  him.  The  working  man  in  paying 
rent  pays  taxes  and  the  taxes  so  paid  must  come  from 


CHAP.  XXXVII    UNJUST   TAXATION   AND    SOCIALISM  521 

his  wages  or  the  share  of  his  rent  which  goes  for  taxes 
is  a  share  of  the  products  of  the  worker  which  falls  to 
him  under  the  iron  law  of  wages.  It  is  not  in  point  to 
say  that  the  workers  must  pay  the  taxes  because  the 
workers  create  all  wealth.  There  is  no  question  about 
the  workers  creating  all  wealth;  the  question  is  wheth- 
er the  share  of  wealth  so  created  which  goes  for  taxes 
comes  from  the  share  which  falls  to  the  workers  as 
wages,  or  from  the  share  which  falls  to  the  exploiter, 
either  as  rent,  interest  or  profit.  And  the  point  in 
this  discussion  is  that  if  the  workers  do  not  pay  the 
taxes  they  cannot  be  interested  in  the  just  assessment 
and  honest  collection  of  the  taxes. 

698.  Equalization  of  Collective  Burdens.— It  has 
been  seen  above  that  under  Socialism  necessary  public 
expenses  will  be  equally  and  easily  borne  by  all  pro- 
ducers. As  long  as  capitalism  remains  no  solution  of 
the  tax  problem  can  produce  such  results.  But  the 
triumph  of  the  Socialist  party  in  any  given  city  will 
come  nearer  accomplishing  such  a  result  than  any 
other  program  which  can  be  undertaken  under  capital- 
ism, and  so  far  as  such  working  people  as  teamsters, 
expressmen,  small  shopkeepers,  the  owners  of  small 
shops  and  small  farms  are  concerned  the  local  triumph 
of  the  Socialist  party  will  directly  relieve  all  such  peo- 
ple from  the  corrupt  and  unjust  administration  of  the 
taxing  power.  While  it  will  lessen  their  rates  of  taxa- 
tion, it  will  increase  the  public  income  from  the  present 
tax  dodgers  and  administer  this  income  for  the  direct 
benefit  of  all  the  working  people. 

The  fact  is  that  the  share  of  the  products  which  falls 
to  the  payment  of  wages  or  interest  or  rent  or  profit 
is  never  a  fixed  and  invariable  proportion.  All  of  the 
parties  to  the  distribution  of  the  products  of  labor  un- 
der capitalism  are  constantly  striving  to  enlarge  the 
share  which  falls  to  them.  The  corrupt  administration 


522  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PARTY 

of  the  taxing  power  is  one  of  the  means  by  which  the 
millionaire  exploiter  increases  the  share  which  falls 
to  him,  while  he  lessens  the  public  income  available  for 
such  public  purposes  as  would  most  directly  benefit 
the  working  class. 

699.  Big  and  Little  Tax  Payers.— It  is  a  mistake 
to  suppose  that  the  Socialist,  locally  in  power,  but  un- 
der capitalism,  has  any  quarrel  with  the  tax  payer  who 
owns  property  which  he  cannot  hide  and  in  such  small 
holdings  that  he  cannot  afford  to  own  the  assessor  also. 
When  Socialism  comes  such  people  will  never  again  be 
called  on  to  bear  more  than  their  share  of  the  common 
burden  for  the  common  needs  of  society.    Until  Social- 
ism comes,  the  Socialist  party,  being  in  control  in  any 
city  or  in  any  state  and  not  in  the  nation,  will  never 
be  able  to  assess  and  to  collect  taxes  on  all  property  at 
a  rate  in  excess  of  what  the  poorer  people  are  paying 
now,  and  the  immediate  effect  of  a  local  victory  will  be 
to  lessen  rather  than  to  increase  the  poor  man's  share. 

There  is  no  ground  for  reasonable  controversy  be- 
tween the  working  man  who  lives  in  his  own  cottage 
and  another,  working  man  who  lives  in  a  hired  house 
on  this  subject  of  taxation.  A  local  Socialist  victory 
cannot  add  to  the  burdens  of  either,  and  must  increase 
the  public  income  from  the  enemy  of  both  and  to  the 
direct  benefit  of  both. 

700.  Summary.— 1.    Under  capitalism  taxation  is 
necessarily  unjust,  even  when  public  officials  are  not 
corrupt. 

2.  Under  capitalism  the  business  interests  benefited 
by  a  corrupt  administration  of  the  taxing  power  are 
so  great  that  only  by  the  destruction  of  capitalism  it- 
self can  their  power  to  corrupt  taxation  be  overthrown. 

3.  Under  Socialism  no  system  of  taxation  involving 
a  search  for  hidden  goods,  or  for  making  assessments 


CHAP.  XXXVII     UNJUST    TAXATION    AND    SOCIALISM  523 

under  the  influence  of  great  private  interests  will  be 
necessary. 

4.  The  control  of  the  public  authorities  by  Social- 
ists in  any  locality  will  be  distinctly  in  the  interest  of 
the  most  just  administration  of  the  taxing  power  pos- 
sible under  capitalism.  It  will  naturally  lower  the  rate 
and  at  the  same  time  increase  the  public  income,  while 
it  will  control  expenditures  directly  in  behalf  of  the 
working  people. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  Why  cannot  justice  in  taxation  be  established  under  capitalism? 

2.  Why  is  all  indirect  taxation  unjust? 

3.  How  and  what  kinds  of  property  usually  escape  taxation? 

4.  Why  cannot  small  properties  escape  taxes? 

5.  How  do  large  properties  escape  the  payment  of  taxes? 

6.  How  would  Socialism  affect  the  subject  of  taxation? 

7.  How  would  a  local  Socialist  adminstration,  while  the  state  and 
nation  remained  under  capitalism,  affect  the  subject  of  taxation  ? 

8.  Would  the  Socialists,  if  given  local  control,  adopt  oppressive 
measures  of  taxation  under  a  general  reign  of  capitalism? 

9.  Who  pays  the  taxes  under  capitalism? 

10.  Who  is  most  injured  by  the  tax  dodger? 

11.  Does  tax  dodging  injure  the  working  man? 

12.  Can  Socialism  equalize  collective  burdens? 

13.  Will  a  local  Socialist  administration  be  likely  to  discriminate 
against  small  property  holders  in  the  matter  of  taxes  in  the  same  way 
as  is  now  done? 


CHAPTEE  XXXVm 

PUBLIC    OWNERSHIP    AND    SOCIALISM 

701.  The  Collective  Public.— Public  ownership  is 
frequently  spoken  of  as  if  it  were  Socialism.    If  the 
word  "public"  be  properly  understood,  or  if  the  word 
"government"  be  made  to  mean  the  same  thing,  then 
public  ownership,  or  government  ownership,  that  is, 
collective  ownership,  is  a  part  of  the  Socialist  program. 
But  there  may  be  public  ownership  under  capitalism 
with  no  Socialism,  and  with  no  part  of  Socialism.1 

702.  Collective  Ownership.— On  the  other  hand,  it 
is  impossible  to  have  Socialism  without  collective  own- 
ership of  the  means  of  production,  so  far  as  they  are 

1.  "There  is  no  completion  of  the  Socialist  theory  until  industry 
is  so  managed  by  the  community  that  interest,  rent  and  profit  are 
'socialized' — are  turned  from  private  into  public  possessions.  It  is  the 
Socialist's  faith  that,  until  this  is  done,  a  portion  of  what  labor  earns 
will  go  to  those  who  have  given  no  equivalent  for  it.  To  restore  this 
unearned  income  to  the  whole  people,  the  means  of  production — land 
and  machinery — must  pass  to  social  ownership.  The  conservative  cry 
against  all  this  is  that  'it  destroys  private  property.'  If  it  were  charged 
that  certain  forms  of  private  property  would  be  destroyed,  the  criticism 
is  just.  There  is  in  theory  no  destruction  of  private  property  further 
than  that  involved  in  these  'three  rents.'  [See  Chapter  28.]  A  hundred 
forms  of  property  (slaves,  highways,  toll-bridges)  have  changed  and 
must  change  with  advancing  civilization.  Communism  in  all  its  ex- 
tremes destroys  private  property  outright.  Socialism  safeguards  it  to 
to  the  extent  of  giving  absolute  rights  to  the  individual  over  all  products 
that  he  can  hold  for  consumption."— Brooks :  Social  Unrest,  pp.  278-279. 

024 


CHAP.  XXXVIII     PUBLIC  OWNERSHIP  AND  SOCIALISM  525 

collectively  used.  The  state  of  Kansas  publicly  owns 
a  binding  twine  factory,  but  the  binding  twine  trust 
privately  owns  all  the  raw  material  which  the  Kansas 
factory  must  use  in  order  to  produce  binding  twine. 
The  result  is  that  the  state  of  Kansas  has  made  a  con- 
tract with  the  binding  twine  trust  to  buy  all  of  its  raw 
material  from  the  trust,— and  to  sell  all  of  its  product 
to  the  trust.  Here  is  an  instance  of  public  ownership 
which  simply  results  in  furnishing  a  factory  for  the 
free  use  of  the  binding  twine  trust,  together  with  cheap 
labor,  inasmuch  as  the  factory  is  a  part  of  the  indus- 
trial equipment  of  the  state  penitentiary.  While  this 
is  public  ownership,  it  is  not  Socialism.  Street  car 
lines,  railways,  and  postoffices,  where  owned  and  oper- 
ated by  the  government,  have  nothing  of  democracy  in 
their  administration,  or  of  equality  of  opportunity  to 
become  workers,  which  are  essential  features  of  the  So- 
cialist program.  So  long  as  the  government  is  admin- 
istered by  a  political  party  controlled  by  the  capital- 
ists, any  industries  administered  by  such  a  government 
cannot  in  any  way  be  said  to  be  either  examples  of  So- 
cialism or  steps  toward  Socialism. 

703.  Bismarck.— The  shrewdest  and  most  powerful 
individual  antagonist  Socialism  has  yet  had  was  Bis- 
marck.   He  successfully  urged  the  Prussian  govern- 
ment to  purchase  all  the  railways  in  Prussia,  and  the 
process  was  begun  in  1879.    This  sample  of  the  tactics 
of  Bismarck  while  battling  against  Socialism  at  least 
was  not  intended  as  a  step  towards  Socialism. 

704.  Free  Rides  and  Rents  and  Wages.— There  are 
three  groups  of  capitalists  doing  business  in  a  great 
city.    One  owns  the  shops;  another  owns  large  blocks 
of  tenement  houses,  and  a  third  owns  the  street  rail- 
ways.   For  the  general  public  to  combine  with  the  own- 
ers of  the  shops  at  one  end  of  the  line,  and  with  the 
owners  of  the  tenement  houses  at  the  other  end  of  the 


526  •    CURRENT   PROBLEMS  PAKT  V 

line  to  secure  public  ownership  of  the  street  railways, 
connecting  the  shops  and  the  tenement  houses,  will  not 
greatly  benefit  the  public.  What  the  people  save  in 
fares  will  be  added  to  their  rents  at  one  end  of  the  line, 
or  taken  from  their  wages  at  the  other.  Such  public 
ownership  is  neither  Socialism  nor  a  step  toward  So- 
cialism, if  this  language  is  understood  to  mean  that  it 
is  in  any  way  an  illustration  of  the  operation  of  what 
the  Socialists  propose. 

705.  A  Concession  in  the  Argument.— On  the  other 
hand,  it  may  be  said  to  be  a  concession  to  the  Social- 
ist's argument,  and,  indirectly,  while  in  no  way  an 
example  of  Socialism,  may  tend  to  strengthen  the  pro- 
posals of  the  Socialists  in  the  public  mind.    It  sug- 
gests the  socialization  of  productive  property.    In  such 
a  sense  it  is  a  step  toward  Socialism. 

706.  A  Step  in  Evolution.— Socialism  involves  the 
organization,  centralization  and  more  perfect  equip- 
ment of  industry,  together  with  collective  ownership, 
democratic  management,  and  equal  opportunity.    The 
work  of  organization,  concentration  and  the  perfection 
of  the  equipment  essential  to  the  inauguration  of  the 
co-operative  commonwealth  is  being  carried  on  under 
capitalism  by  the  initiative  of  the  capitalists  them- 
selves, under  the  necessary  operation  of  economic  laws. 
The  process  would  continue  without  the  support  and 
even  with  the  opposition  of  the  Socialists.2 

707.  An  Important  Admission.— The  principle  of 
collective  ownership  has  so  far  been  the  point  of  the 
main  controversy  between  the  supporters  of  Socialism 
and  the  defenders  of  Capitalism.    Every  time  the  pub- 
lic goes  into  the  gas  business,  into  building  electric 

2.  "When  railroads  were  first  introduced,  people's  minds  revolted 
against  the  monoply  of  transportation  thereby  involved.  Statutes  were 
devised  to  make  the  track  free  for  the  use  of  different  carriers,  as  the 
public  highway  is  free  to  the  owners  of  different  wagons.  But  the  econ- 
omy of  having  all  trains  controlled  by  a  single  owner  was  soon  apparent. 


CHAP.  XXXVIII     PUBLIC  OWNERSHIP  AND  SOCIALISM  527 

light  plants,  or  power  houses,  or  public  ditches,  or  res- 
ervoirs, or  in  any  way  becomes  a  part  owner  in  any  of 
the  great  industrial  plants  of  the  world,  the  principle 
of  collective  ownership  is  conceded,  and  the  Socialist 
side  of  the  argument  is  thus  strengthened  in  the  public 
mind.  In  that  sense,  public  ownership,  while  it  is  de- 
nied to  be  a  step  in  the  inauguration  of  Socialism,  is  a 
step  in  the  abandonment  of  what  has  so  far  been  the 
ground  of  the  principal  argument  against  Socialism. 

708.  Some  Advantages.— It  is  not  to  be  denied  that 
the  public  in  the  long  run  is  a  better  employer  than 
the  private  corporation.    Shorter  hours,  greater  secur- 
ity of  employment  and  better  rates  of  wages  are  advan- 
tages which  may  be  secured  under  public  ownership 
for  small  portions  of  the  workers.    But  none  of  these 
can  result,  except  in  the  most  indirect  and  roundabout 
way,  in  a  general  elevation  of  the  working  class;  and 
none  of  them  in  any  way  affect,  unless  it  be  injuriously, 
the  question  of  the  industrial  emancipation  of  the 
workers,  that  is,  the  making  of  their  hours  of  labor,  the 
distribution  of  their  products  and  the  security  of  their 
employment  subject  to  the  control  of    the    workers 
themselves. 

709.  Public  Ownership  of  the  Means  of  Producing 
the  Means  of  Life.— Again,  it  should  be  noticed  that 
public  ownership  has  so  far  been  proposed  only  for 
means  of  communication  or  of  transportation  or  of 
some  public  necessity  of  the  most  general  use,  but  not 
as  a  rule  seriously  affecting  the  problem  of  subsistence, 

Then  laws  were  passed  compelling  competition  among  owners  of  separ- 
ate roads.  Laws  against  pools,  traffic  associations,  etc.,  fol- 
lowed. *  *  Many  of  these  laws  were  failures  from  the  outset; 
others  have  hastened  consolidation  to  a  point  beyond  the  reach  of  special 
law;  others  did  positive  harm.  *  *  *  The  majority  of  thinking 
men  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  railroads  are  in  some  sense  a  na- 
tural monopoly  and  have  classed  them  with  water- works,  gas-works  and 
other  'quasi  public'  lines  of  business,  as  an  exception  to  the  general  rule 
of  free  competition." — Hadley:  Education  of  an  American  Citizen,  p. 
42. 


528  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART  V 

especially  for  the  more  poorly  paid  of  the  working 
class.  The  enterprises  of  Glasgow  have  been  most 
widely  mentioned  as  instances  of  public  ownership,  but 
public  ownership  in  Glasgow  has  not  attempted  the 
public  ownership  of  any  of  the  principal  means  of  pro- 
ducing the  means  of  life.  Public  ownership,  so  far,  has 
everywhere  kept  away  from  the  public  ownership  of 
the  raw  materials,  and  the  great  machines,  jointly 
used,  as  the  means  of  producing  the  means  of  life.  But 
public  ownership,  even  under  democratic  management 
by  the  workers  employed,  undertaken  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  recognized  public  utilities,  but  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  all  enterprises  directly  engaged  in  producing 
the  means  of  life,  would  still  condemn  a  part  of  the 
workers  to  the  petty  tyranny  of  the  private  boss  and 
subject  all  of  the  workers  to  the  exploitation  of  the  pri- 
vate capitalist  controlling  the  privately  produced  ne- 
cessities of  life. 

710.  Industrial  Democracy.— Public  ownership  no- 
where proposes  to  provide  for  the  self-employment  and 
self-direction  of  all  the  workers.  At  this  point  lies  the 
most  radical  difference  between  all  schemes  for  pub- 
lic ownership  and  Socialism.  The  one  attempts  to 
organize  a  business,  to  hire  its  labor  in  the  market,  to 
subject  it  to  the  discipline  of  a  boss  in  the  employment 
of  whom  the  workers  have  no  voice,  and  by  civil  serv- 
ice examinations,  to  provide  ' 'jobs'7  only  for  those 
who  are  best  able  to  survive  without  them. 

Socialism,  on  the  other  hand,  will  not  undertake  to 
organize  the  workers  for  the  sake  of  an  industry,  but 
to  organize  and  equip  all  the  great  industries  for  the 
sake  of  the  workers,  and-especially  and  primarily  those 
industries  most  directly  connected  with  the  production 
of  the  means  of  life.  This  will  be  done,  not  with  the 
view  to  employing  only  the  picked  and  most  efficient 
of  the  workers,  but  of  giving  equal  opportunity  to  all 


CHAP.  XXXVIII     PUBLIC  OWNERSHIP  AND  SOCIALISM  529 

men  and  women  to  become  workers  if  they  shall  so 
choose. 

711.  Summary.— 1.  Public  ownership  is  not  So- 
cialism. 

2.  Public  ownership  is  not  a  part  of  Socialism  un- 
less "public"  means  the  whole  body  of  the  people  and 
ownership  is  to  carry  with  it  democratic  management 
and  equal  opportunity  and  is  extended  to  include  all 
the  means  of  producing  the  means  of  life  so  far  as  they 
are  collectively  used. 

3.  Every  case  of  public  ownership  is  a  concession 
in  the  argument  for  Socialism. 

4.  The   evolution   of   capitalism  naturally   passes 
through  organization,  centralization  of  management, 
perfection  of  equipment,  and  into  public  ownership 
with  or  without  the  support  of  the  Socialists. 

5.  Public  ownership  as  commonly  proposed  keeps 
clear  of  the  means  of  producing  the  means  of  life  and 
in  no  way  interferes  with  exploitation  nor  delivers  the 
workers  from  boss  rule. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  Show  that  public  ownership  is  not  Socialism. 

2.  Illustrate  by  the  Kansas  twine  factory. 

3.  Is  public  ownership  a  step  towards  Socialism,  as  giving  an  ex- 
ample of  Socialism?    Explain. 

4.  Show  how  a  publicly  owned  street  railway  could  operate  without 
bringing  advantage  to  the  working  people. 

5.  What   has  been  the   principal  point  of  contention  regarding 
Socialism  ? 

6.  How  does  public  ownership  affect  this  argument? 

7.  Name  some  advantages  of  public  ownership. 

8.  Show   that   they   fall   short   of   Socialism.     Show   that   public 
ownership  does  not  involve  the  overthrow  of  the  wage  system. 

9.  Why  is  exploitation  possible  under  the  public  ownership  of  the 
recognized  "public  utilities"? 

10.  In  what  way  will  the  employment  of  labor  under  Socialism 
necessarily  differ  from  its  employment  under  public  ownership  while 
capitalism  remains? 


CHAPTER  XXXIX 

THE   CIVIL   SERVICE   AND    SOCIALISM 

712.  "The    Coming   Slavery.' '—Herbert    Spencer, 
writing  of  what  he  conceived  to  be  Socialism,  warns 
the  public  against  what  he  called  "The  Coming  Slav- 
ery."   It  is  not  infrequently  said  that  Socialism  will 
put  everybody  into  the  public  service,  will  necessarily 
lower  the  efficiency  of  the  public  service,  and  make  of 
all  the  voters  uniformed  government  dependents. 

713.  The  Civil  Service.— The  civil  service  now  con- 
sists of  the  employes  in  the  postoffice,  the  various  de- 
partmental branches  of   service    at  Washington,   the 
public  school  teachers,  the  police  department,  the  fire 
department  and  the  clerical  workers  in  all  branches 
of  government  service.    Where  the  public  authorities 
undertake  public  improvements,  without  the  interven- 
tion of  the  contractor,  the  workers  in  these  depart- 
ments may  also  be  added  to  the  civil  service  list. 

714.  Self-Governing  Service.— It  is  the  purpose  of 
this  chapter  to  show  that  Socialism,  instead  of  bring- 
ing all  citizens  into  the  uniformed,  organized,  disci- 
plined and  dependent  relations  of  the  employes  now  in 
the  civil  service,  will  deliver  even  those  now  so  em- 
ployed to  the  full  privilege  of  citizenship,  not  to  a  citi- 
zenship of  the  sort  which  the  other  workers  now  have, 
but  to  a  citizenship  which  will  completely  enfranchise 

530 


CHAP.  XXXIX       THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  AND  SOCIALISM  531 

both  them  and  all  other  workers  in  all  matters  of  com- 
mon concern. 

715.  Postoffice  Employes  and  the  President.— The 
President  of  the  United  States  recently  issued  an  order 
that  no  employe  in  the  postal  department  should  ask 
for  an  increase  of  pay,  shortening  of  hours,  or  in  any 
way  undertake  to  secure  an  improvement  of  his  condi- 
tion as  a  worker,  and  he  accompanied  this  order  with 
the  further  order  that  any  such  employe  so  attempting 
to  secure  such  changes  in  his  own  behalf  should  be  dis- 
missed from  the  service.    The  Mail  Carriers '  Associa- 
tion is  not  permitted  to  participate  with  other  labor 
organizations  in  attempting  to  secure  an  improvement 
of  the  general  conditions  of  the  average  working  man; 
activity  in  politics  is  forbidden;  instead  of  the  public 
employe  having  any  voice  in  the  direct  management  of 
the  work  in  which  he  is  engaged,  he  is  especially  for- 
bidden to  attempt,  even  indirectly,  to  control  that  em- 
ployment by  exercising  his  rights  as  an  American  citi- 
zen by  an  active  participation  in    partisan    politics. 
Promotions  are  not  the  result  of  effective  service,  the 
service  to  be  determined  by  the  workers  themselves, 
but  are  the  result  of  examinations  or  of  records  of  serv- 
ice as  determined  by  superintendents  or  heads  of  de- 
partments who  are  in  no  way  answerable  to  the  work- 
ers. 

716.  Limited  Employment.— Only  the  picked  men 
are  given  employment.    Competitive  examinations  are 
relied  upon,  not  to  provide  employment  for  all  or  for 
all  those  qualified,  but  only  for  the  most  efficient. 

717.  The  Incompetent  and  the  Employed.— Some 
years  ago  (1888)  the  writer  of  these  pages  was  en- 
gaged for  some  time  in  an  effort  to  promote  a  move- 
ment which  was  then  quite  widely  considered  by  labor 
organizations  and  others  for  the  organization  of  a  po- 
litical party  whose  platform  should  be  Public  Owner- 


532  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PART\T 

« 

ship,  particularly  of  the  railways.  It  was  in  this  ef- 
fort, and  in  the  further  study  of  the  problems  con- 
nected with  this  purpose,  that  the  author  discovered  its 
necessary  limitations,  and  how  practically  valueless 
public  ownership  is  as  a  source  of  relief  for  working- 
people.  It  was  during  the  time  that  he  was  so  en- 
gaged, however,  that,  on  the  occasion  of  an  interview 
with  a  distinguished  jurist,  the  jurist  objected  to  pub- 
lic ownership  on  the  ground  that  the  first  task  must  be 
to  improve  the  civil  service  regulations  and  that  pub- 
lic ownership  could  be  considered  afterwards;  " be- 
cause, "  said  he,  "  along  with  public  ownership  would 
come  the  demand  of  every  Tom,  Dick  and  Harry  for  a 
public  job/'  The  writer  asked  in  reply  for  some  good 
and  sufficient  reason  why  Tom,  Dick  and  Harry  should 
be  prevented  from  having  a  job.  The  answer  has  never 
been  given.  So  long  as  the  civil  service  is  organized 
to  employ  a  part  of  the  workers,  and  these  have  no 
voice  in  the  management  of  their  own  labor,  it  may 
be  well  presented  as  an  evil  to  be  avoided,  but  it  is  an 
evil  which  exists  under  capitalism,  and  which  will 
cease  to  exist  after  the  inauguration  of  Socialism. 

718.  Self -Employment  for  All.— The  civil  service, 
if  it  may  be  said  to  exist  at  all  under  Socialism,  will 
simply  be  the  whole  body  of  the  people,  organizing 
themselves  for  the  most  effective  employment  of  social 
labor  power  in  the  processes  of  social  production  and 
distribution.    There  will  be  no  competitive  examina- 
tions to  determine  who  shall  be  in  and  who  shall  be  out. 
The  general  struggle  which  now  goes  on  for  a  place  in 
the  public  service  will  cease  utterly  when  all  workers 
are  provided  the  most  productive  employment  in  which 
it  is  possible  for  them  to  be  employed. 

719.  Self -Government  by  AIL— Whatever  forms  of 
organization  may  prevail,  promotions  will  no  longer 
be  made  by  those  in  no  way  responsible  to  the  workers; 


CHAP.  XXXIX    THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  AND  SOCIALISM  533 

P 

promotions  in  the  service  will  be  made  only  as  the 
result  of  efficiency  in  the  service.  It  will  hardly  be  by 
a  set  examination  to  determine  who  is  the  best  speller 
in  order  to  secure  an  appointment  in  the  fire  depart- 
ment. Promotions  could  take  place  only  as  the  re- 
sult of  effective  service  and  at  the  hands  of  fellow- 
workers,  with  whom  the  service  had  been  rendered. 
The  efficiency  of  the  industrial  organization,  the  per- 
fection of  the  service  and  the  liberty  of  the  social  pro- 
ducers under  their  own  government  would  be  com- 
plete. Intriguing  and  scheming  for  promotion,  seek- 
ing to  secure  the  good  will  of  an  absent  employer  by 
tale-bearing,  misrepresentations,  and  conniving  to  se- 
cure the  discredit  and  dismissal  of  immediate  superi- 
ors will  utterly  disappear,  because  no  tale-bearing  will 
be  necessary  to  inform  i  l  the  powers  that  be, ' '  when  the 
"powers  that  be"  are  one's  associates  in  the  same  in- 
dustry, and  are  ever  present  at  the  same  tasks,  rather 
than  an  absent  and  supposed  superior,  with  power  to 
elevate  one  and  disgrace  another,  not  because  of  his 
knowledge  but  because  of  the  power  which  private 
ownership  in  industry  makes  possible. 

720.  Loss  of  Self -Control.— If  it  be  claimed  that 
such  democracy  in  industry  is  not  practicable,  because 
the  workers  are  not  now  capable  of  self-government, 
then,  the  answer  is  that  if  this  is  true,  it  is  the  fault 
of  capitalism.  A  hundred  years  ago,  whatever  indus- 
tries were  carried  on  in  the  old  household  method  of 
production  were  managed  by  the  people  who  them- 
selves did  the  work.  There  were  no  whistles  to  call 
them  to  their  tasks;  no  walking  bosses,  no  foremen  to 
hold  them  busily  to  their  undertakings.  The  spinning 
and  weaving  and  other  industries  carried  on  by  the 
women  were  subject  to  their  own  management,  and  the 
product  was  large  or  small,  according  to  their  own  self- 
directed  industry.  The  same  was  true  throughout  prac- 


534  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PARTY 

tically  all  of  the  employments  of  one  hundred  years 
ago.  If  the  workers  of  to-day  are  incapable  of  setting 
themselves  to  work,  it  is  because  of  lack  of  ex- 
perience in  doing  so  under  capitalism;  it  is  therefore 
the  fault  of  capitalism,  and  if  for  no  other  reason,  cap- 
italism ought  to  be  abandoned  in  order  that  the  work- 
ers, by  actual  practice  in  the  direction  of  their  own  in- 
dustry, may  again  be  restored  to  the  power  of  self- 
possession  and  self-direction. 

721.  More  Democracy.— De  Tocqueville    said    one 
hundred  years  ago,  in  discussing  "American  Insti- 
tutions, "  that  there  are  evils  of  democracy,  but  that 
"the  only  remedy  for  the  evils  of  the  democracy  is 
more  democracy."     The  workers  can  never  be  made 
free  men  until  they  are  given  the  power  of  self-direc- 
tion in  their  daily  tasks.    This  they  can  never  have  un- 
der capitalism. 

722.  The  Current  Slavery.— Mr.  Spencer  was  quite 
correct  in  warning  the  people  against  the  coming  slav- 
ery, only  he  located  his  slavery  in  the  wrong  place. 
Capitalism  is  making  of  all  workers  dependent  hired 
men  and  hired  girls,  with  no  voice  in  the  management 
of  the  enterprises  in  which  they  are  wearing  out  their 
lives.    This  is  certainly  a  coming  slavery,  which  for 
most  of  the  workers  has  already  arrived.1     The  way 
out  is  not  in  opposition  to  Socialism,  but  in  the  over- 
throw of  capitalism  and  the  inauguration  of  the  co- 
operative commonwealth. 

723.  Management  by  the  Competent.— It  is  unrea- 
sonable to  affirm  that  those  who  are  doing  the  work 

1.    "Let  me  state  what  I  conceive  to  be  the  essential  characteristics 
of  Human  Slavery: 

^  "1.  Wherever  certain  human  beings  devote  their  time  and  thoughts 
mainly  to  .obeying  and  serving  other  human  beings,  and  this  not  be- 
cause they  choose  to  do  so,  but  because  they  must,  there  (I  think)  is 
Slavery. 

"2.    Wherever  human  beings  exist  in  such  relations  that  a  part, 
because  of  the  position  they  occupy  and  the  functions  they  perform, 


CHAP.  XXXIX     THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  AND  SOCIALISM  535 

( 

know  less  about  it  than  those  who  are  not  so  engaged. 
It  is  unreasonable  to  affirm  that  those  who  are  present 
at  any  task  know  less  about  it  than  those  who  are  ab- 
sent. It  is  unreasonable  to  affirm  that  the  interests 
of  an  absent  boss  in  securing  profits  would  be  great- 
er, and  would  operate  to  secure  a  greater  efficiency  in 
the  control  of  industry  than  would  be  the  interest  of 
the  workers,  when  all  of  the  products  would  be  their 
own,  and  the  neglect,  or  carelessness,  or  incompetence 
of  any  worker  would  be  a  direct  injury  and  offense 
against  all  of  his  shop-mates  working  at  his  side. 
!  724.  The  Dismissal  of  the  Shop  Spy.— It  is  true 
that  in  the  modern  factory  each  worker  inclines  to 
protect  each  other  worker  in  all  these  wrongs,  neglects 
and  injuries  to  the  enterprise  in  which  they  are  en- 
gaged. In  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  if  the  absent 
master  is  to  know,  he  must  fill  the  ranks  with  spies, 
and  the  task  of  the  spy  will  be  regarded  with  con- 
tempt. Not  so  when  the  workers  are  engaged  in  their 
own  task  in  securing,  for  the  effort  made,  the  largest 
possible  returns.  Then  each  will  be  directly  and  per- 


are  generally  considered  an  inferior  class  to  those  who  perform  other 
functions,  or  none,  there  (I  think)  is  Slavery. 

"3.  Wherever  the  ownership  of  the  soil  is  so  engrossed  by  a  small 
part  of  the  community  that  the  far  larger  number  are  compelled  to  pay 
whatever  the  few  may  see  fit  to  exact  for  the  privilege  of  occupying  and 
cultivating  the  earth,  there  is  something  very  like  Slavery. 

"4.  Wherever  opportunity  to  labor  is  obtained  with  difficulty,  and 
is  so  deficient  that  the  employing  class  may  virtually  prescribe  their 
own  terms  and  pay  the  laborer  only  such  share  as  they  choose  of  the 
product,  there  is  a  very  strong  tendency  to  Slavery. 

"5.  Wherever  it  is  deemed  more  reputable  to  live  without  labor 
than  by  labor,  so  that  *a  gentleman*  would  be  rather  ashamed  of  his 
descent  from  a  blacksmith  than  from  an  idler  or  mere  pleasure  seeker, 
there  is  a  community  not  very  far  from  Slavery.  And, 

"6.  Wherever  one  human  being  deems  it  honorable  and  right  to 
have  other  human  beings  mainly  devoted  to  his  or  her  convenience  or 
comfort,  and  thus  to  live,  diverting  the  labor  of  these  persons  from  all 
productive  or  general  usefulness  to  his  or  her  own  special  uses,  while  he 
or  she  is  rendering  or  has  rendered  no  corresponding  service  to  the  cause 
of  human  well-being,  there  exists  the  spirit  which  originated  and  still 
sustains  Human  Slavery." — Horace  Greeley:  In  a  letter  to  National 
Convention  of  Abolitionists  at  Cincinati,  Ohio,  June  3,  1845. 


536  CURRENT    PROBLEMS  PARTV 

sonally  interested  by  instruction,  by  encouragement, 
by  mutual  help,  and  by  personal  sacrifice  to  contribute 
to  the  utmost  to  the  efficiency  of  all. 

725.  Just  and  Rational  Promotion.— An  inefficient 
foreman  would  not  be  possible;  he  would  not  for  an 
hour  be  tolerated  by  the  workers,— whose  income  un- 
der Socialism  would  depend  in  part  on  the  efficiency 
of  their  foremen.  It  would  be  to  the  economic  interest 
of  every  man  in  the  department  to  select  the  best  pos- 
sible foremen.  His  selection  and  promotion  would  be 
inevitable.  The  self-seeking  working  man,  attempt- 
ing to  disarrange  an  effective  organization  for  per- 
sonal advantage,  could  not  exist.  He  could  secure  no 
advantage  in  such  a  way,  and  if  he  could  he  would  be 
covered  with  contempt.  Promotion,  in  the  nature  of 
the  case,  would  be  for  merit  only,  and  no  promotion 
could  ever  make  one  worker  the  arbitrary  master  of 
another.  The  arbitrary  discipline,  the  uniform,  the 
military  tactics,  the  system  of  spies,  the  struggle  for 
place,  the  disfranchisement  of  public  servants,  these 
and  every  other  wrong  under  the  present  public  serv- 
ice will  disappear  under  Socialism,  for  whatever  the 
method  of  organization  or  of  management  under  the 
co-operative  commonwealth,  relations  of  mastery  and 
servitude  and  of  economic  dependence  will  utterly  dis- 
appear. 

!  726.  Summary.— 1.  "Workers  in  the  public  service 
are  now  taken  from  the  labor  market,  employed  under 
a  boss  in  whose  election  they  have  no  voice,  and  work 
under  rules  in  the  establishment  of  which  they  are  not 
consulted. 

2.  Public  employes,  under  capitalism,  compete  with 
other  workers  for  employment  and  are  led  to  consent 
to  conditions  to  which  they  would  not  submit  were  it 
not  for  the  army  of  the  unemployed,  or  the  more  poorly 


CHAP.  XXXIX    THE  CIVIL  SERVICE  AND  SOCIALISM  537 

employed,  who  are  waiting  to  take  their  places  from 
them. 

3.  The  uniform,  the  arbitrary  discipline,  the  mili- 
tary tactics,  the  system  of  spies,  the  struggle  for  place, 
together  with  the  whole  relationship  of  mastery  and 
servitude,  will  disappear  from  the  public  service  on 
the  coming  of  Socialism. 

4.  Under  Socialism  self-employment,   self-govern- 
ment, management  by  the  competent,  together  with 
just  and  rational  promotion,  will  prevail  in  all  indus- 
trial, or  other  collective  employments  now  subject  to 
either  public  or  private  control. 

5.  Socialism  is  not  a  ' '  coming  slavery, ' '  it  is  the  in- 
dustrial emancipation  of  all  the  slaves. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  is  feared  by  those  who  speak  of  the  "coming  slavery"  ? 

2.  What  is  meant  by  the  civil  service? 

3.  What   relation   does   the    civil    service   worker    sustain   to   his 
"superior"  ? 

4.  What  are  the  usual  conditions  of  employment? 

5.  What  would  be  the  difference  between  employment  by  the  gov- 
ernment and  self -employment  under  Socialism? 

6.  Are  the  workers  capable  of  carrying  on  self-government  in  the 
shops  ?    Explain. 

7.  What  is  the  best  remedy  for  the  evils  of  democracy?  Explain. 

8.  Would  Socialism  mean  management  by  the  competent  ?    Explain. 

9.  What  would  become  of  the  shop  spy  on  the  coming  of  Social- 
ism?   Why? 

10.  Would  the  incapable  be  promoted  under  Socialism?    Why? 


CHAPTER  XL 

STATUS  OF  WOMAN  AND  SOCIALISM 

727.  Disfranchised    Women.— The    political    dis- 
ilrancMsement  of  woman  is  an  incident  in  the  economic 
development  of  the  world's  life. 

728.  Economic     Dependence.  —  Economic  depend- 
ence always  involves  inferiority    of    political  power.1 
This  is  as  true  of  men  as  of  women.    In  primitive  so- 
ciety women  were  not  the  economic  dependents  of  men, 
neither  were  they  without  voice  in  the  management  of 
their  own  industry.    The  earliest  division  of  labor,  as 
well  as  the  earliest  social  organization,  was  effected 
along  sex  lines,  not  because  of  the  brutality  of  men, 
nor  because  of  any  natural  dependence  of  women  upon 
men,  either  for  their  sustenance  or  for  their  defense. 

729.  Primitive  Self -Government.— The  building  of 

1.  "As  woman  becomes  more  free  in  the  use  and  ownership  of 
wealth,  her  freedom  in  selecting  her  mate  is  greater.  She  has  never  been 
without  the  desire  for  exclusive  ownership  of  all  the  affections  of  her 
husband.  Her  mental  capacity  in  that  respect  has  always  been  equal 
to  that  of  the  man.  In  the  moral  estimation  of  woman,  whether  she  be 
slave  or  free,  polygamy  has  always  been  wrong.  But  her  desires  have 
not  always  been  consulted.  Her  capacity  for  exclusive  possession  has 
not  been  left  perfectly  free  to  act.  Her  freedom  in  this  respect  is  en- 
larging, truly,  but  this  fact  is  the  result  of  the  larger  economic  liberties 
she  is  rapidly  acquiring.  It  needs  no  argument  to  establish  the  truth 
of  the  simple  fact  that  if  a  woman  be  rich  she  will  have  a  wider  choice 
of  mates  than  if  she  is  forced  to  rely  upon  the  labor  of  a  man  for  her 
livelihood."— Lane:  The  Level  of  Social  Motion,  p.  544. 

538 


CHAP.  XL        STATUS  OF  WOMAN  AND  SOCIALISM  539 

the  first  fires  required  that  some  one  should  stay  by 
the  fires  to  keep  them  alive  because  of  the  very  great 
difficulty  of  re-kindling  them  when  once  the  fires  were 
gone  out.  The  very  great  difficulty  of  woman,  with 
her  suckling  young,  going  on  the  long  tramps  on  the 
fishing  excursions,  naturally  assigned  to  the  men  the 
task  of  catching  the  fish,  and  to  the  women  the  task  of 
"keeping  the  fire/'  but  the  women  were  as  free,  as 
independent,  as  self-possessed,  and  as  thoroughly  the 
masters  of  the  industries  which  they  built  up  around 
the  fires  as  were  the  men  on  their  fishing  excursions. 
Throughout  the  later  periods  of  savagery,  and 
throughout  all  the  years  of  barbarism,  the  women  or- 
ganized their  industries,  developed  their  tools,  man- 
aged their  gardens,  their  firesides,  their  domestic 
manufacturing  enterprises,  and  their  voice  was  su- 
preme in  all  these  matters. 

730.  The  Soldier  and  the  Master.— It  has  been  seen, 
in  Chapter  IV ,  how  the  fishermen  grew  to  be  hunters ; 
how  the  hunters  finally  became  soldiers;  how  the  sol- 
diers finally  brought  home  their  captives    to    make 
slaves  of  them;  how  industry  ceased  to  be  the  work  of 
women  and  became  the  work  of  slaves;  and  how  the 
military  masters  who  governed  the  military  camps  and 
directed  the  activty  of  the  soldiers  also  controlled 
the  slave  camps,  and  so,  at  last,  became  the  masters 
of  the  industries  which  throughout  the  period  of  sav- 
agery and  barbarism  had  been  the  special  field  of  the 
free,  self-governing  activity  of  women,     tinder  the 
military  organization  of  industry,  which  came  with 
the  institution  of  chattel  slavery,  the  women  either  be- 
came slaves  along  with  the  other  workers,  or  the  pets 
and  playthings  of  the  military  masters. 

731.  Voting  Instead  of  Fighting,— When  the  fran- 
chise was  finally  given,  the  voting  was  a  substitute  for 
fighting.    The  women  were  not  in  the  army,  and 'solely 


540  CURRENT   PROBLEMS  PARTY 

because  they  were  no  share  of  the  military  establish- 
ments of  the  world  they  were  not  given  votes,  not  be- 
cause of  the  selfishness  or  brutality  of  the  soldiers,  but 
simply  because  they  were  not  present,  and,  therefore, 
not  considered. 

732.  Limited  Franchise  of  Working    Men.— The 
elective  franchise  has  been  given  but  slowly  to  the 
men  who  are  workers.    In  no  country  are  the  workers 
permitted  to  vote  purely  in  consideration  of  the  fact 
that  they  are  human  beings,  with  only  such  restrictions 
as  could  guard  the  public  against  misrepresentations 
and  fraud.    A  very  large  percentage  of  the  voters  in 
the  United  States  are  not  able  to  vote  on  election  days 
because  of  requirements  of  residence  and  other  consid- 
erations, not  essential  to  protecting  the  public  against 
fraud,  and  in  no  other  country  is  the  franchise  so  uni- 
versal.    In  most  modern  states,  some  share  of  the 
workers,  and  in  many  of  them  a  large  share,  are  per- 
mitted to  vote,  but  their  right  to  vote  is  limited  to  the 
electing  of  certain  officers  to  political  positions,  and  is 
so  exericsed  as  to  make  the  disfranchisement  of  the 
men  in  all  matters  relating  directly  to  the  control  of 
the  great  industries,  by  which  they  produce  their  liv- 
ing, as  absolute  in  the  case  of  men  as  it  is  in  the  case 
of  women. 

733.  Disfranchised  at  the  Shops.— In  no  country 
does  the  worker  have  any  voice  as  a  voter  in  determin- 
ing his  hours  of  labor,  the  rate  of  his  speed,  the  share 
of  the  product  which  shall  fall  to  him,  nor  in  any  way 
a  voice  in  the  control  of  the  industries  in  which  he 
earns  his  living.    He  may  vote  for  candidates  for  elect- 
ors, who  in  turn  vote  for  the  president,  who  in  turn 
may  appoint  the  postmasters,  but  industrially  he  is 
disfranchised:  The  shops,  mines,  factories,  trains,  all 
can  be  stopped  or  "shut  down"  and  he  be  starved,  yet 
he  has  no  vote  in  the  matter;  the  general  superintend- 


CHAP.  XL         STATUS  OF  WOMAN  AND  SOCIALISM  541 

ent,  the  division  superintendent,  the  local  superintend- 
ent, the  department  foreman,  the  section  boss  the  mine 
boss,— all  these  are  selected  in  utter  defiance  of  the 
wishes  of  the  millions  of  the  politically  enfranchised 
toilers.  This  is  an  industrial  despotism  within  a  polit- 
ical democracy. 

734.  Socialists  and  Equal  Suffrage.— The  Social- 
ists are  everywhere  in  favor  of  universal  suffrage,  and 
that  this  shall  apply  to  the  women  as  well  as  to  the 
men.    But  it  is  of  more  importance  to  both  men  and 
women  that  the  franchise  shall  be  extended  to  their 
economic  interests  than  that  they  shall  even  be  voters 
at  all,  if  they  are  still  to  be  disfranchised  in  all  of  the 
undertakings  related  to  the  struggle  for  the  means  of 
life.    The  political  franchise  which  working  men  have, 
is  of  but  little  value  to  them  except  as  a  means  of  se- 
curing the  industrial  franchise  which  they  ought  to 
have. 

735.  Self -Government  of  the  Women  at  Work.- 
The  women  who  are  factory  workers  and  shop  girls 
will  completely  transform  their  relations  to  industry  so 
soon  as  they  are  enfranchised,  not  only  at  the  ballot 
box,  in  voting  for  men  who  vote  for  other  men,  who 
appoint  the  postmaster,  but  in  voting  directly  and  on 
all  the  details  of  the  organization  and  management  of 
their  own  employment.2 

736.  Equal  Industrial  and  Political  Rights  for  All. 
-The  relations  of  the  equal  and  universal  suffrage 

campaign  to  the  Socialist  movement  are  of  the  great- 
est importance.  In  most  countries  the  workers  are 

2.  "But  the  most  impressive  instance  of  waste  takes  place  in  what 
we  may  call  the  woman  power  of  the  community.  More  of  it  is  due  to 
poverty  than  is  the  case  with  men;  for  if  parents  have  to  choose  be- 
tween spending  money  on  a  son  or  a  daughter,  it  is  invariably  the  son 
who  is  preferred.  But  still  more  is  due  to  the  prejudice  which  considers 
it  either  unnecessary  or  undesirable  to  cultivate  a  woman's  power,  a 
prejudice  which  is  only  very  gradually  breaking  down.  And  the  harm 
that  is  done  to  the  community  by  this  particular  branch  of  .waste  is  of 


542  CURRENT    PROBLEMS  PART\T 

still  fighting  for  the  opportunity  to  be  heard  at  the 
ballot  box.  The  elective  franchise  can  never  be  ex- 
tended to  those  who  are  not  permitted  to  vote  at  all, 
and  extended  for  those  who  are  now  voters  in  some 
matters,  so  that  all  shall  be  given  an  equal  voice  in  the 
management  of  all  common  interests,  by  any  other 
means  than  by  using  to  the  utmost  such  political  power 
as  the  workers  now  have.  It  is  a  principle  in  evolution 
that  an  effort  of  any  organism  to  function  in  any  par- 
ticular way  is  the  process  by  which  new  organs  are  de- 
veloped and  perfected.  The  only  means  by  which  the 
workers,  either  men  or  women,  can  hope  to  extend 
their  political  and  economic  power  is  by  using  to  the 
uttermost  the  power  which  they  already  possess.  The 
fact  that  the  workers  cannot  vote  at  the  factory  door 
is  a  reason  why  they  should  be  all  the  more  careful  to 
vote,  and  always  to  vote  for  themselves,  at  the  ballot 
box.  The  political  power  of  the  working  class  will 
grow,  only  as  the  working  class  exercises  to  the  utter- 
most the  poltical  power  which  it  already  possesses. 

737.  Women  in  Politics.— All  of  the  days  of  the 
year,  except  election  day,  the  personal  influence,  the 
voice,  the  power  to  tell  and  to  persuade  is  as  much  the 
right  of  women  as  it  is  of  men.  Those  who  wish  to 
extend  the  voice  of  womanhood  to  the  ballot  box  will 
secure  the  right  to  speak  through  the  ballot  box  most 
speedily  and  effectively  by  speaking  in  every  other 
way,  in  spite  of  their  exclusion  from  the  ballot  box, 
and  in  spite  of  the  legal  discriminations  against  woman 
which  so  far  prevail  in  most  of  the  modern  states. 

a  kind  to  multiply  itself  indefinitely.  The  lack  of  training  to  skilled 
work  reacts  upon  the  physical  condition  of  the  women,  both  through 
the  exhausting  nature  of  the  rough  work  which  they  are  forced  to  do, 
and  from  their  inability  to  earn  sufficient  to  keep  themselves  strong; 
and  this  physical  injury  tells  inevitably  upon  the  strength  of  the  next 
generation.  From  a  business  point  of  view  no  form  of  waste  could  be  so 
bad  as  this,  and  there  is  none  which  is  so  considerable  at  the  present 
day."— Basanquet:  The  Strength  of  the  People,  p.  67. 


CHAP.  XL        STATUS  OF  WOMAN  AND  SOCIALISM  543 

738.  Industrial  Emancipation.— There  is   no   field 
where  political  activity  on  the  part  of  woman  can 
count  so  much  for  her  enfranchisement  as  in  her  work 
for  the  economic  rights  of  the  toilers  everywhere  and 
particularly  for  the  economic  rights  of  women  and 
children.    If  the  working  women  everywhere  will  join 
in  the  fight  for  their  own  industrial  emancipation,  they 
will  accomplish  most  for  their  own  political  enfran- 
chisement. 

739.  Summary.— 1.    The  disfranchisement  of  wom- 
en is  an  inheritance  from  barbarian  war. 

2.  The  enfranchisement  of  men  is  only  partial,  for 
neither  men  nor  women  are  given  any  voice  in  the  man- 
agement of  the  industries  where  they  are  employed. 

3.  The  Socialists  alone  contend  for  the  complete 
enfranchisement  of  all  men  and  women  with  equal  po- 
litical and  industrial  rights  for  all. 

4.  For  both  men  and  women  the  speediest  way  to 
increase  their  rights  either  at  the  ballot  box  or  at  the 
shop  is  to  use  to  the  uttermost  all  of  the  political  rights 
or  powers  which  they  at  any  time  possess. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  Why  are  women  disfranchised? 

2.  Why    does   economic   dependence   always   involve   political   in- 
feriority ? 

3.  Under  what  conditions  have  women  had  full  possession  of  their 
own  affairs? 

4.  How  did  women  become  the  economic  dependents  of  the  men? 

5.  What  was  the  earliest  meaning  of  the  elective  franchise? 

6.  Are  the  men  fully  enfranchised  with  all  just  industrial  rights? 

7.  How  would  self-government  on  the  part  of  all  workers  affect 
the  employments  of  women? 

8.  How  would  economic  independence  on  the  part  of  all  women  af- 
fect the  strength  of  motherhood?    Quote  note  from  Basanquet. 

9.  In  what  way  can  both  men  and  women  most  effectively  extend 
their  political  power? 


CHAPTER  XLI 

THE  RACE  PROBLEM  AND  SOCIALISM 

740.  Its  Importance.— The  race  problem  is  a  real 
problem  and  a  most  difficult  one.    The  problem  is  not 
solved  by  denying  its  existence  or  by  belittling  its  im- 
portance. 

741.  The  Chinese  Question.— The  Chinese  civiliza- 
tion is  very  ancient.    Chinese  labor  coming  into  com- 
petition, in  the  world  labor  market,  with  the  labor  of 
more  modern  and  more  progressive  nations,  places  the 
Caucasian  worker  in  a  position  where  he  must  yield 
his  opportunity  to  live  at  all,  or  consent  to  live  accord- 
ing to  the  standard  of  living  accepted  by  his  Mongolian 
competitors. 

742.  The  Negro  Question.— The  black  race  either 
exists  in  Africa  as  savages  or  barbarians,  or,  as  a  rule, 
in  other  countries  as  the  children  of  kidnaped  sav- 
ages, with  no  further  knowledge  of  civilization  nor  op- 
portunity to  develop  from  the  status  of  savagery  to 
the  status  of  civilized  society  than  has  been  afforded 
during  the  three  hundred  years  of  bondage  in  the  cot- 
ton fields  and  sugar  plantations  of  our  Southern  states. 

743.  Race    Competition.— The    problem    resulting 
from  the  competition  of  Chinese  labor  and  of  black  la- 
bor with  workers  of  European  birth,  or  workers  of 

544 


CHAP.XLI        THE  RACE  PROBLEM  AND  SOCIALISM  545 

European  ancestry,  is  particularly  a  problem  of  the 
United  States.  The  race  problem  involves  more  than 
the  labor  problem  which  results  from  the  competition 
of  white  men  with  those  just  out  of  savagery,  as  is  the 
case  with  black  men,  or  with  those  exhausted  and  over- 
borne by  an  ancient  and  different  civilization,  as  is 
the  case  with  Chinese  labor.  There  are  the  further 
problems  as  to  the  outcome  of  the  mixing  of  these 
races,  of  their  social  relations  and  of  their  political  and 
social  rights  when  living  together  under  the  authority 
of  the  same  government.  It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this 
chapter  to  attempt  to  deal  with  these  questions  fur- 
ther than  to  discuss  their  relations  to  current  economic 
problems  and  to  point  out  how  largely  all  these  prob- 
lems will  lose  their  importance  on  the  coming  of  So- 
cialism. 

744.  Industrial  Training.— Industrial  training  for 
the  negro  is  no  solution  of  the  negro  problem.    Unques- 
tionably it  will  make  the  negro  a  more  effective  com- 
petitor with  the  white  man  in  the  labor  market,  but 
it  in  no  way  affects  the  problem  of  establishing  peace 
between  the  races.    As  the  intelligence  and  efficiency 
of  the  black  man  is  increased,  it  does  not  solve  the 
problem;  it  only  emphasizes  the  necessity  for  some  so- 
lution. 

So  far  the  black  man  has  surrendered.  Industrial 
training  will  add  to  his  strength,  and  as  his  conscious 
power  increases  he  will  be  less  willing  to  surrender. 
The  demand  for  justice  will  be  intensified  rather  than 
satisfied  by  the  industrial  schools. 

745.  Disfranchisement.  —  Disfranchising    the    col- 
ored man  and  enforcing  his  economic  dependence  by 
depriving  him  of  his  political  power,  cannot  settle  the 
problem.    As  his  industrial  power  and  his  general  in- 
telligence increases,  either  with  the  ballot  or  without 
the  ballot,  he  will  find  some  means  of  demanding  his 


546  CURRENT    PROBLEMS  PART  V 

economic  rights.  It  does  not  settle  the  problem.  It 
simply  gives  further  temporary  control  to  the  master, 
while  it  leaves  untouched  all  the  wrongs  incident  to 
the  economic  dependence  of  this  untrained  race. 

746.  Forbidding    Marriages.  -  -  Forbidding    mar- 
riages across  race  lines  will  not  prevent  the  mingling 
of  African  and  Caucasian  blood.    It  is  not  because  of 
marriages  that  the  kidnaped  black  men  have  been  los- 
ing the  density  of  their  blackness  during  the  three  hun- 
dred years  of  enforced  residence  in  America. 

747.  Transporting.— Transporting  the  black  man 
to  other  and  distant  countries  could  not  be  a  solution 
of  the   question,   because  if   capable   black   workers 
should  be  taken  to  Africa,  means  for  the  employment 
of  their  labor  in  producing  for  the  markets  of  the 
world  would  be  taken  with  them.    While  some  of  the 
social  features  of  the  problem  would  in  this  way  be 
largely  disposed  of,  their  industrial  competition  with 
the  white  producer  would  still  remain. 

748.  "A  White  Man's  World."— It  has  been  pro- 
posed that  this  shall  be  made  a  white  man's  world,  that 
the   black     and    yellow   races  shall  be  given  certain 
boundaries  within  which  they  may  operate,  and  that 
some  means  shall  be  provided  for  their  practical  ex- 
termination everywhere  else.    It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  a  part  of  the  same  program  is  to  provide  for  the 
industrial  exploitation  of  the  so-called  inferior  races 
by  the  same  forces  which  propose  to  make  this  a  white 
man's  world.    It  does  not  matter  how  closely  yellow 
men  and  black  men  are  held  to  any  certain  or  distant 
territory.    So  long  as  it  is  understood  that  their  labor 
is  to  be  exploited  and  any  share  of  their  products 
placed  in  the  world's  market  in  competition  with  the 
products  of  white  workers,  the  industrial  race  problem 
will  remain. 

749.  Chinese    Exclusion. —The    exclusion     of    the 


CHAP.XLI        THE  RACE  PROBLEM  AND  SOCIALISM  547 

Chinese  from  the  United  States  has  not  been  accom- 
panied by,  nor  has  it  anywhere  been  proposed  that  it 
should  be  accompanied  by  the  exclusion  of  American 
machinery  from  Chinese  territory  or  the  exclusion  of 
Chinese  products  from  the  world's  market.  If  cheap 
Chinese  labor  is  forbidden  to  use  American  machinery 
in  American  shops,  that  will  not  prevent  cheap  produc- 
tion by  the  use  of  Chinese  labor  and  American  ma- 
chinery. It  simply  means  that  if  the  Chinaman  cannot 
come  to  the  United  States,  the  American  machine  will 
go  to  China  and  the  products  of  the  yellow  working- 
man,  equipped  with  the  white  man's  tools  and  subject 
to  the  white  man's  management,  will  compete  in  the 
world's  market  with  the  products  of  the  white  man's 
labor. 

750.  Race  Antagonisms  and  Economic  Interests.— 
Let  us  give  attention  to  the  inquiry  as  to  the  cause 
of   the   intense   antagonism   between   races.      Surely 
neither  the  black  man  nor  the  Chinaman  are  inferior 
to  the  inferior  animals  which  are  made  the  pets  and 
servants  of  white  men  with  no  feeling  of  antagonism 
or  of  race  hatred  existing  between  the  animals  and  the 
men.    So  long  as  the  black  man  remains  ' '  in  his  place, ' ' 
as  it  is  said,  so  long  as  he  performs  the  duties  of  a 
servant  and  assumes  in  no  way  whatever  to  ask  for  the 
opportunities  of  a  man,  there  is  no  feeling  of  antag- 
onism between  the  races.    It  is  when  the  negro  or  the 
Chinaman,  as  it  is  said,  "assumes  to  be  a  white  man" 
that  the  trouble  follows.    The  white  man  assumes  the 
relations  of  mastery  with  himself  the  master.     The 
white  man  holds  the  position  of  economic  and  political 
power  and  will  not  countenance  any  action  on  the  part 
of  an  inferior  race  which  involves  social  recognition  or 
the  possession  of  economic  or  political  power  on  the 
part  of  the  inferior  race  in  competition  with  himself. 

751.  Mastery  and  Servitude.— But  the  antagonism 


548  CURRENT   PROBLEMS  PABTV 

between  one  white  man  who  is  a  master  and  another 
white  man  who  is  his  personal  servant  is  just  as  keen 
and  as  bitter  as  it  can  be  between  white  masters  and 
black  servants.  Whenever  the  menial  who  is  a  white 
man  assumes  the  prerogatives  of  a  master,  he  too  must 
stay  "in  his  place, "  or  the  class  war  becomes  as  in- 
tense as  the  result  of  these  antagonistic  economic  rela- 
tions between  white  men  with  each  other  as  it  is  be- 
tween men  of  different  races,  so  far  as  the  cause  of  the 
conflict  between  the  different  races  is  an  economic 
cause. 

752.  Labor  Unions  and  the  Race  War.— Formerly 
the  labor  unions  refused  membership  to  the  black  men 
and  attempted  to  protect  themselves  from  the  compe- 
tition of  the  black  workers  by  excluding  the  black  man 
from  the  opportunity  to  earn  his  bread  in  any  trade 
where  organized  white  men  were  employed,  but  the 
industrial  schools  have  been  making  the  black  worker 
a  skilled  worker,  and  labor  unions,  even  in  southern 
states,  have  conceded  the  necessity  of  the  organization 
of  all  laborers  whether  black  or  white,  if  the  economic 
interests  of  either  are  to  be  in  any  way  protected  by 
the  labor  unions.  The  fact  that  they  are  usually  or- 
ganized in  separate  unions  in  no  way  affects  the  force 
of  the  fact  that  the  right  to  organize  and  to  hold  char- 
ters from  the  same  organizations  as  white  unions  has 
been  conceded  to  the  black  workers  along  with  the 
rest.1 

1.  Because  of  this  boycotting  of  black  workers  in  shops  where 
white  people  are  employed,  some  curious  things  have  happened  in 
northern  shops  taken  to  southern  states.  In  both  Alabama  and  Georgia 
organizers  of  the  trades  unions  have  found  towns  where  the  white 
children  refuse  to  work  if  black  children  are  employed,  with  the  result 
that  the  white  children  get  the  jobs  in  the  shops,  and  the  black  children 
— unable  to  secure  employment — are  putting  in  their  time  attending 
school. 

"I  asked  one  of  the  largest  employers  of  labor  in  the  South  if  he 
feared  the  coming  of  the  trade  union.  'No/  he  said,  'it  is  one  good  result 
of  race  prejudice,  that  the  negro  will  enable  us  in  the  long  run  to  weaken 
the  trade  union  so  that  it  cannot  harm  us.  We  can  keep  wages  down 
with  the  negro,  and  we  can  prevent  too  much  organization/  " — Brooks : 
Social  Unrest,  p.  28. 


CHAP.  XLI        THE  RACE  PROBLEM  AND  SOCIALISM  549 

753.  Illiterates.— The  disfranchisement  of  illiterate 
voters  intended  to  affect  the  southern  negroes  will  in 
no  way  injuriously  affect  the  efforts  of  the  working 
men  of  the  country  in  their  effort  to  secure  political 
power,  in  order  to  secure  and  protect  their  just  eco- 
nomic rights.    As  long  as  the  Eepublican  party  found 
it  possible  to  use  the  black  men's  votes  in  the  southern 
states  to  maintain  that  party  in  possession  of  the  na- 
tional power,  that  party  stood  for  the  political  rights 
of  the  blacks.    The  Eepublicans  not  only  enfranchised 
the  black  men  in  the  first  place  for  the  purpose  of  per- 
petuating that  party's  control  in  national  affairs,  but 
so  soon  as  it  was  found  possible  to  secure  national  con- 
trol and  abandon  the  black  men  they  were  abandoned 
by  the  northern  capitalists  in  control  of  the  Eepublican 
organization.    In  many  of  the  northern  states  the  Dem- 
ocratic party  is  contending  with  the  Eepublicans  for 
the  control  of  the  colored  vote.    Either  party  is  willing 
to  talk  for  the  black  man's  political  rights  so  far  as 
either  needs  his  ballot.    Both  these  parties  are  con- 
trolled by  the  economic  masters  of  the  black  men. 
Neither  of  them  will  act  in  behalf  of  the  economic 
rights  of  the  blacks  without  which  all  political  rights 
are  robbed  of  their  power  to  help  the  black  men  in  their 
struggle  for  existence.    There  is  not  a  southern  state, 
nor  a  northern  one,  where  the  prejudice  against  the 
blacks  is  so  intense  that  the  capitalistic  masters,  both 
North  and  South,  would  hesitate  to  use  the  black  man's 
ballot  if  it  should  be  found  necessary  to  do  so  in  order 
to  prevent  the  political  triumph  of  the  white  working 
men. 

754.  Illiteracy   and   Socialism.— The   disfranchise- 
ment of  illiterates,  black  or  white,  will  not  delay  the 
Socialist  movement,  for  it  is  not  the  ignorant  and  in- 
capable working  man  to  whom  the  Socialist  must  ad- 
dress his  appeal  in  the  effort  to  organize  the  workers 


550  CURRENT    PROBLEMS  PARTY 

for  the  purpose  of  protecting  themselves  and  securing 
their  own  welfare  as  workers,  through  the  use  of  the 
power  of  the  state. 

755.  An  Italian  Example.— A  recent  effort  of  the 
•capitalists  of  Italy  to  enfranchise  the  most  ignorant 
and  most  helpless  workers  in  order  to  use  their  votes 
to  prevent  the  election  of  the  Socialists  is  a  fair  sample 
of  what  may  be  expected  of  the  capitalists  in  their  re- 
lations to  the  ignorant  and  incapable  working  men 
both  black  and  white.    It  is  not  the  ignorance  and  dis- 
order and  the  incompetence  of  the  white  workers,  or 
of  the  black  ones,  from  which  the  economic  masters  of 
both  have  most  to  fear.    It  is  their  intelligence,  their 
capacity  for  self-control,  for  effective  organization,  for 
united  action.    It  is  these  which  will  destroy  capital- 
ism. 

756.  Hating  Because  Fighting— Not  Fighting  Be- 
cause Hating.— It  has  been  seen,  in  Chapter  IV,  how 
the  barbarian  inter-tribal  wars  were  economic  wars. 
It  was  the  necessity  for  more  land,  in  order  to  support 
larger  herds,  in  order  to  support  the  growing  popula- 
tion of  the  barbarian  tribe,  which  compelled  it  to  seek 
to  capture  the  lands  of  the  other  tribes.    Nothing  is 
more  interesting  than  the  reported   addresses   which 
the  barbarian  chieftains  are  said  to  have  delivered  to 
their  own  tribesmen,  exalting  the  virtues  of  their  own 
soldiers,  the  excellencies  of  their  own  tribes  and  the 
certain  favor  of  their  own  gods,  together  with  the 
marvelously  superior  qualities  of  their  own  gods,  while 
contrasting  all  these  with  the  inferior  deities  of  in- 
ferior powers,  besides  cataloguing  all  the  weaknesses 
and  loathsome  qualities  which  they  attributed  to  the 
people  whom  they  were  about  to  attack  in  order  to 
appropriate  their  lands.    That  is,  at  the  bottom,  these 
ancient  tribes  did  not  fight  each  other  because  they 
hated  each  other.    They  hated  each  other  because  they 


CHAP.XLI        THE  RACE  PROBLEM  AND  SOCIALISM  551 

were  fighting  each  other,  and  they  were  fighting  each 
other  for  more  land. 

757.  Slandering  the  Enemy.— The  most  recent  in- 
stance of  this  same  sort  of  proceeding  is  the  attacks  of 
the  American  press  on  the  character  of  the  Spaniards, 
and  later  on  the  character  of  the  Filipinos,  not  hecause 
the  had  qualities  complained  of  could  not  be  found 
at  home,  but  solely  in  order  to  excite  and  enlist  the 
hatred  of  the  many  in  order  to  turn  the  fruits  of  hateful 
war,  at  the  hands  of  the  many,  to  the  economic  advan- 
tage of  the  few. 

Englishmen  and  Americans  have  not  entirely  recov- 
ered from  the  hatred  resulting  from  the  wars  of  a  hun- 
dred years  ago.  They  did  not  go  to  war  because  they 
hated  each  other.  They  hated  each  other  because  they 
had  gone  to  war,  and  they  went  to  war  over  a  purely 
economic  controversy. 

For  many  years  after  the  American  Civil  War,  it 
cost  a  man  the  confidence  and  respect  of  his  neigh- 
bors, in  either  the  North  or  the  South,  if  heard  speak- 
ing in  favorable  terms  of  any  of  the  people  belonging 
to  those  sections  of  the  country  against  whom  they  had 
been  engaged  in  war.  Again,  the  people  of  these  sec- 
tions did  not  go  to  war  because  they  hated  each  other. 
They  hated  each  other  because  they  had  been  engaged 
in  war,  and  they  went  to  war  over  a  clash  of  purely 
economic  interests. 

758.  Race  Hatred  and  Robbery.— The  same  is  true 
of  race  hatreds.    Eaces  do  not  hate  each  other  because 
of  color,  or  character,  or  personal  habits,  or  lack  of  cul- 
ture.   Caucasian  ignorance,  uncleanliness  and  vice  are 
just  as  loathsome  as  the  same  qualities  found  with  the 
yellow  man  or  the  black  man,  but  when  these  qualities 
are  found  to  belong  to  those  whose  interests  are  an- 
tagonistic to  our  own  and  the  economic  war  is  on,  there 
is  enough  of  barbarism  and  of  savagery  still  in  our 


552  CURRENT  PROBLEMS  PABTV 

nature  to  enable  us  to.  make  a  hard  fight  for  .an  eco- 
nomic' advantage^  and  to  pretend'  to-  ourselves  that  the 
real  reason  for  fighting  is  to  be  found  in  the  bad  quali- 
ties of  those  whom  we  are  striving  to  whip  in  order 
to  rob. 

759.  Competing  For  Jobs.— Two  white  men  are 
competing  with  each  other  for  the  same  opportunity  to 
be  employed:     "A"  offers  to  work  for  $3.00  a  day 
and."B"  offers  to  do  the  same  task  for  $2.00  a  day,— 
then  "A"  accepts  $1.00  and  "B"  accepts  50  cents,  and 
a  Chinaman  or  a  negro  consents  to  do  the  work  for  40 
cents,  a  bid  which  neither  "A"  nor  "B"  can  meet,  and 
so  both  lose  their  opportunity  for  employment,  and 
join  hands  in  an  effort  to  exclude  the  Chinaman  and 
the  negro  from  an  opportunity  to  be  employed  at  all. 
The  white  men's  fight  with  the  black  man  and  the 
Chinaman  is  not  because  the  one  is  black  and  the  other 
yellow.    It  is  the  same  fight  which  they  were  just  be- 
fore having  with  each  other.    It  is  for  an  opportunity 
to  be  employed.    It  is  the  same  fight  which  goes  on 
between  the  union  man  who  has  a  job  and  the  non- 
union man  who  is  attempting  to  secure  for  himself  an 
opportunity  to  earn  his  bread,  but  at  the  expense  of 
his  brother  who  is  already  employed. 

As  long  as  workingmen  compete  with  each  other  for 
the  opportunity  to  be  employed ;  as  long  as  races  which 
maintain  an  inferior  standard  of  living  compete  with 
other  races  which  maintain  a  higher  standard  of  living, 
so  long  the  economic  war  must  go  on,  and,  hence,  so 
long  the  race  wars  must  remain  as  the  most  repulsive 
and  the  most  aggravating  feature  of  this  world-wide 
struggle  for  existence. 

760.  Socialism  Ends  the  Economic  War. —But  So- 
cialism will  end  all  this.    It  will  not  place  one  white 
man  in  competition  with  another  for  the  opportunity 
to  earn  a  living,  because  of  lack  of  employment  for  all. 


CHAP.  XLI        THE  RACE  PROBLEM  AND  SOCIALISM  553 

It  will  not  place  one  nation  in  competition  witfi  other 
nations  for  the  control  of  world  markets,  because  the 
workers  at  home  are  unable  to  buy  with  their  wages  the 
wealth  which  their  own  hands  create.  It  will  not  place 
the  less  developed  races  in  competition  with  the  more 
highly  advanced  races  for  the  opportunity  to  sell  their 
labor  to  the  few  masters  who  are  exploiting,  alike,  all 
the  laborers  of  all  the  races  of  mankind,  and  hence  the 
coming  of  Socialism  will  end  the  race  war  so  far  as 
it  is  an  economic  war. 

761.  Necessary  Race  Differences  Remain.— It  is  in- 
conceivable, .however,  that  the  race  characteristics  re- 
sulting from  the  widely  differing  lines  of  development 
under  which  the  races  have  come  to  their  present  con- 
ditions, will  not  continue  to  maintain  social  distinc- 
tions of  the  most  marked  character,  if  not  forever,  at 
least  for  many  centuries  in  the  future.  What  culture 
and  liberty  may  be  able  to  accomplish  for  the  inferior 
races,  if  such  races  really  exist,  it  is  impossible  to  pre- 
dict. There  is  nothing  in  Socialism  which  proposes 
to  enforce  upon  the  attention  of  any  one,  or  to  compel 
the  recognition  by  any  one  of  any  other  who  is  person- 
ally distasteful  in  any  way.  There  is  no  ground  for 
contending  that  a  white  man  will  be  required  in  any 
way  to  associate  with  a  black  man,  a  yellow  man  or 
another  white  man  who  shall  be  found  to  be,  because 
of  character,  or  color,  or  any  other  reason,  distasteful 
to  him.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  colored  population  of 
the  United  States  are  even  now  gradually  gathering 
into  a  few  localities  from  which  the  white  people  are 
as  gradually  withdrawing.  When  the  economic  rea- 
sons for  the  presence  of  the  white  men  among  the 
blacks,  in  order  to  exploit  their  labor,  shall  cease  to 
operate,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  this  ten- 
dency to  reparation,  and  the  tendency  to  preserve  aud 


554  CURRENT   PROBLEMS  PARTY 

to  protect  the  race  characteristics  of  each  race,  will  be- 
come more  marked  than  ever. 

762.  End  of  Race  Robbery  and  Hatred.— It  is  in- 
conceivable that  an  offensive  mixture  of  the  races 
could  result  from  the  coming  of  Socialism.    All  Social- 
ism attempts  to  do  is  to  abolish  exploitation.     All 
workers  will  be  entitled  to  the  total  product  of  their 
labor.     No  laborer,  whether  white  or  black,  will  be 
entitled  to  any  more,  nor  will  he  be  willing  to  accept 
any  less.    "With  the  disappearance  of  economic  inequal- 
ity of  opportunity,  all  class  antagonism  resulting  from 
the  current  clash  of  class  interests  must  disappear. 
Class  wars,  international  wars  and  race  wars,  for  eco- 
nomic causes,  will  be  forever  at  an  end.    "When  there 
is  no  longer  any  economic  advantage  in  exciting  hatred 
and  in  fomenting  strife,  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  any 
other  human  interest  strong  enough,  and  at  the  same 
time  vile  enough,  to  involve  the  people  in  mutual 
hatred,  to  say  nothing  of  the  mutual  butcheries  inci- 
dent to  the  age-long  economic  struggles  which  have  re- 
sulted from  the   economic   inequality  of   opportunity 
which  is  inherent  in  capitalism  but  will  be  impossible 
under  Socialism. 

763.  Summary.— 1.    Eace  wars  are  at  bottom  eco- 
nomic wars. 

2.  "White  labor  in  competition  with  Chinese  and 
negro  labor  must  adopt  the  standard  of  living  of  the 
negro  and  of  the  Chinaman  or  be  displaced  by  them. 

3.  Industrial    training,    disfranchisement,    forbid- 
ding inter-race  marriages,  or  transporting  will  not  af- 
fect the  economic  race  war  with  the  negro. 

4.  Chinese  exclusion  or  making  this  ' i  a  white  man 's 
world  "  does  not  dispose  of  the  Chinese  question  if  cap- 
italism is  to  remain. 

5.  Ignorance,  disorder  and  incompetence  are  the 


CHAP.XLI        THE  RACE  PROBLEM  AND  SOCIALISM  555 

foes  of  Socialism  and  the  allies  of  capitalism  among 
all  races. 

6.  Socialism  will  abolish  all  economic  wars,  includ- 
ing the  economic  wars  of  the  races.  But  race  charac- 
teristics, with  mutual  race  aversions,  except  as  they  ex- 
ist for  economic  causes,  will  remain  untouched  by  So- 
cialism. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  is  the  effect  on  white  workers  when  brought  into  compe- 
tition with  black  and  yellow  races? 

2.  What  effect  does  industrial  training  for  the  negro  have  on  the 
question  ? 

3.  Will  disfranchising  the  negro  affect  the  economic  problem? 

4.  Will  forbidding  inter-race  marriages  or  transporting  negroes  end 
the  industrial  race  war  ?    Why  ? 

5.  Will  making  this  "a  white  man's  world"  dispose  of  the  indus- 
trial race  war,  either  as  related  to  Chinamen  or  negroes? 

6.  Why  will  Chinese  exclusion  not  settle  the  question  of  Chinese 
labor? 

7.  Explain  the  cause  of  race  wars. 

8.  What  is  the  position  of  labor  unions  on  the  race  question? 

9.  Explain  the  relation  of  the  current  political  parties  to  the  negro's 
vote. 

10.  Prove  that  races  hate  each  other  because  they  fight — not  fight 
because  they  hate. 

11.  Why,  then,  do  races  fight? 

12.  How  will  Socialism  end  the  economic  war  between  the  races? 

13.  Can  Socialism  remove  radical  race  characteristics?     Do  the  So- 
cialists propose  interference  in  any  matters  of  that  sort? 

14.  Will  the  races  hate  each  other  under  Socialism? 


CHAPTER   XLII 

THE   TRAFFIC   IN  VICE   AND   SOCIALISM 

764.  What  Is  Vice?— The  term  vice  in  this  chapter 
is  used  as  meaning  the  habitual  departure  from  those 
natural  sanitary  usages  which  are  necessary  for  the 
well-being  both  of  the  individual  and  of  society. 

765.  Drugs.— In  this  sense  the  habitual  and  harm- 
ful use  of  drugs,  such  as  opium,  narcotics,  cocaine  and 
alcohol  are  vices. 

766.  Trifling  With  Life.— All  physical  and  sexual 
self-indulgences,  in  violation  of  the  necessary  relation- 
ships incident  to  the  maintenance  of  such  clean  and 
wholesome  conditions  of  family  life  as  are  necessary 
to  guard  the  sources  of  child  life  from  pollution  and 
to  protect  childhood  and  youth  from  the  demoraliza- 
tion which  alw.ays  follows  in  the  wake  of  unbridled 
animalism,  are  vices. 

767.  Games  of  Chance.— All  games  of  chance  by 
which  the  means  of  life  are  offered  in  hazard,  when 
the  risk  is  not  a  necessary  uncertainty  as  a  part  of  the 
natural  lot  of  man,  but  instead  the  hazard  is  made  by 
some  artificial  contrivance  and  is  used  as  a  means  of 
getting  gain,  not  because  of  services  rendered,  but  be- 
cause of  chances  taken,  are  vices,  because  all  such 

556 


CHAP.XLH      THE  TRAFFIC  IN  VICE  A-ND  SOCIALISM  55? 

transactions  throw  into  confusion  all  sense  of  fair  play 
between  man  and  man  and  base  the  right  of  possession 
on  the  chances  of  a  game  of  chance  rather  than  on 
service.  This  makes  all  playing  of  games  of  chance, 
when  played  for  gain,  a  vice.  This  must  include  the 
chances  of  the  board  of  trade  as  well  as  those  of  the 
gaming  table,  with  this  difference,  that  speculation  is 
as  much  the  greater  vice  as  the  stakes  of  trade  are 
of  greater  value  than  the  nickels  of  the  slot  machines. 

768.  The  Traffic  in  Vice.— If  the  habitual  and  harm- 
ful use  of  drugs  is  a  vice,  then  the  traffic  in  these  drugs 
for  the  purpose  of  providing  these  harmful  indulgences 
is  an  instance  of  The  Traffic  in  Vice. 

If  the  habitual  abuse  of  the  sexual  relations  is  a  vice, 
then  the  renting  of  property  in  order  to  provide  a  reg- 
ular market  where  those  who  seek  these  indulgences 
may  be  able  to  buy  the  bodies  of  others  for  that  pur- 
pose, and  the  management  of  such  market  places  for  a 
profit,  are  instances  of  The  Traffic  in  Vice. 

If  betting  on  cards  or  on  artificial  markets  is  a  vice, 
then  providing  an  opportunity  for  doing  such  things 
for  the  purpose  of  gain,  is  an  instance  of  The  Traffic 
in  Vice. 

769.  Socialism  and  the  Traffic  in  Vice.— What  will 
be  the  effect  of  the  coming  of  Socialism  on  The  Traffic 
in  Vice! 

770.  Stimulants  and  Narcotics  Under  Capitalism.— 
1.    As  to  the  harmful  use  of  drugs:    The  physical  ex- 
haustion which  so  largely  creates  the  demand  for  stim- 
ulants and  narcotics  is  largely  the  result  of  overwork, 
of  long  hours,  of  unsanitary  shops.    It  is  the  result  of 
being  born  with  a  low  degree  of  vitality,  poorly  fed, 
poorly  clothed,  lack  of  physical  training,  ignorance  of 
the  laws  of  health,  and  of  sleeping  in  tenements  by 
night  as  unsanitary  and  unwholesome  as  are  the  sweat 
shops  by  day.     So  far  as  the  harmful  use  of   drugs 


558  CURRENT    PROBLEMS  PARTY 

comes  from  these  sources,  it  will  utterly  disappear  un- 
der Socialism.1  For  it  is  inconceivable  that,  whenever 
industry  shall  be  directly  organized  for  the  benefit  of 
those  who  do  the  work,  they  will  not  immediately 
set  themselves  to  work  creating  sanitary  homes,  build- 
ing sanitary  shops  and  providing  for  rational  sanitary 
hours  of  labor  for  themselves,  together  with  pure  food 
and  perfect  physical  training. 

Again,  the  habitual  and  harmful  use  of  drugs  is  very 
largely  caused  by  abuses  in  their  use  for  medical  pur- 
poses. Under  Socialism,  the  sale  of  drugs,  as  well  as 
the  sale  of  prescriptions  for  the  use  of  drugs,  for  a 
profit,  will  disappear  along  with  the  whole  profit  sys- 
tem. The  motive  on  the  part  of  the  man  of  special 
training  to  poison  another,  under  the  guise  of  render- 
ing a  special  service,  will  disappear,  and  so  far  as 
drugs  are  abused  for  the  sake  of  the  private  gain  of  the 
physician,  the  quack  or  the  druggist,  with  the  disap- 
pearance of  the  profit  system  the  harmful  use  of  drugs 
which  results  from  this  cause  must  also  disappear. 

Wherever  the  hours  of  labor  have  been  shortened  and 
the  wages  of  the  workers  increased  in  any  trade,  the 
standard  of  living  has  been  raised  and  the  effort  at 
self-improvement  uniformly  increased.  Ignorance  of 
the  disastrous  consequences  of  the  use  of  drugs  has 
made  it  possible  for  those  financially  interested  in  the 
sale  of  drugs  to  saturate  the  bodies  of  their  victims 
with  these  harmful  things.  Without  exception,  in- 

1.  "Now  at  last  we  are  setting  ourselves  seriously  to  inquire  wheth- 
er it  is  necessary  that  there  need  be  large  numbers  of  people  doomed 
from  their  birth  to  hard  work  in  order  to  provide  for  others  the  requisites 
of  a  refined  and  cultured  life;  while  they  themselves  are  prevented  by 
their  poverty  and  toil  from  having  any  share  or  part  in  that  life.  *  *  * 

"This  progress  has  done  more  than  anything  else  to  give  practical 
interest  to  the  question  whether  it  is  really  impossible  that  all  should 
start  in  the  world  with  a  fair  chance  of  leading  a  cultured  life,  free  from 
the  pains  of  poverty  and  the  stagnating  influences  of  excessive  mechani- 
cal toil;  and  this  question  is  being  pressed  to  the  front  by  the  growing 
earnestness  of  the  age." — Marshall:  Principles  of  Economics,  pp.  3-4. 


CHAP.XLH      THE  TRAFFIC  IN  VICE  AND  SOCIALISM  559 

terest  in  physical  culture,  in  the  development  of  strong 
bodies,  in  seeking  for  personal  improvement,  either 
mentally  or  physically,  always  leads  to  a  knowledge 
of  the  evil  consequences  of  the  harmful  use  of  drugs, 
and  consequently  tends  to  its  abandonment. 

Now,  nothing  has  ever  occurred  in  the  life  of  the 
race  to  so  stimulate  this  effort  for  personal  improve- 
ment as  will  the  coming  of  Socialism.2 

When  claims  for  distinction  must  rest  upon  personal 
excellence,  personal  strength,  personal  beauty,  person- 
al service,— when  lying  biographical  notices  can  no 

2.  "We  make  criminals  now;  for  three-fourths  of  the  crime  com- 
mitted is  by  young  men  who  have  been  temporarily  led  astray,  and  the 
fact  that  fifty  per  cent  of  all  the  convicts  in  the  state  prisons  of  the 
United  States  are  under  twenty- six  years  of  age  only  confirms  this 
verdict." — Carroll  D.  Wright:  Some  Ethical  Phases  of  the  Labor  Prob- 
lem, p.  57. 

"A  fourth  evil  resulting  from  this  concentration  of  wealth  and  con- 
sequent division  of  society  into  two  classes,  a  few  very  rich  and  the 
many  dependent  upon  them,  is  seen  in  the  vices  which  such  a  social  or- 
ganization tends  to  produce;  the  vices  respectively  of  what  Mr.  Glad- 
stone has  called  the  'idle  rich'  and  the  'idle  poor.'  It  is  true  that  the 
great  millionaires  are  not  idle;  they  are  generally  the  busiest  of  men. 
But  their  sons  are  not  the  busiest  of  men.  Given  an  idle  rich  class,  with 
plenty  of  money  and  none  of  that  self-control  which  is  learned  in  the 
school  of  industry,  and  there  inevitably  result  the  three  great  vices  of 
America — gambling,  drinking  and  licentiousness.  On  the  other  hand, 
given  a  great  dependent  class  and  a  time  of  hardship  when  some  of 
them  can  no  longer  get  the  right  to  use  tools  and  earn  their  bread,  and 
they  become  literally  dependent  upon  charity  and  begin  to  listen  to  the 
man  who  says,  'The  world  owes  you  a  living5;  and  when  a  man  has  be- 
gun to  think  that  the  world  owes  him  a  living,  he  has  taken  the  first 
step  toward  getting  his  living  by  foul  means  if  he  cannot  get  it  by  fair. 
So  out  of  the  great  working  class  the  poor  are  recruited,  arid  out  of  the 
poor  the  paupers,  and  out  of  the  paupers  the  tramps,  and  out  of  the 
tramps  the  thieves,  and  out  of  the  thieves  the  robbers. 

"Thus  the  concentration  of  wealth  tends,  first  to  material,  second 
to  political,  third  to  industrial,  and  fourth  to  moral  evil." — Abbott: 
Rights  of  Man,  pp.  125-126. 

"Have  you  noticed,"  says  Meng-Tsen,  naively  enough,  "that  in  years 
of  plenty  many  good  actions  are  done,  and  that  in  poor  years  many  bad 
actions  are  done?"  Meng-Tsen  is  right;  all  the  causes  of  discord  among 
mankind  are  always  a  more  or  less  complex  transubstantiation  of  a  piece 
of  primitive  bread;  man's  real  sin  is  hunger  in  all  its  forms.  An  organ- 
ism completely  nourished,  not  only  in  its  framework  and  muscles,  but  in 
the  finest  ramifications  of  its  nervous  system,  would  be,  but  for  morbid 
hereditary  dispositions,  a  well -equilibrated  organism.  Every  vice  which 
reduces  to  a  disequilibration  thus  reduces  scientifically  to  the  more  or 
less  incomplete  nutrition  of  some  deeply  seated  organ." — Guyau:  Edu- 
cation and  Heredity,  p.  32. 


560  CURRENT?    PROBLEMS  PART  V 

longer  be  purchased,  when  a  long  bank  account  can  no 
longer  be  used  to  cover  up  physical  deformities  and 
moral  outrages,  then  all  men  must  give  their  attention 
to  the  improvement  of  themselves  as  the  sole  means 
of  securing  distinction,  and  the  motive  for  the  abandon- 
ment of  harmful  drugs  and  all  other  harmful  practices 
will  be  greatly  reinforced.  The  same  motive  will  more 
strongly  establish,  than  ever  before,  every  sane  and 
sanitary  usage,  either  for  the  guidance  of  individuals 
or  for  the  protection  of  society. 

771.  The  Traffic  in  Women.— 2.  As  to  the  traffic  re- 
lated to  sexual  abuses,  the  same  may  be  said. 

Traffic  in  the  bodies  of  women  will  never  cease  in  the 
markets  where  vicious  indulgences  are  sold  far  gain, 
so  long  as  the  bodies  of  both  men  and  women  are 
bought  and  sold  in  the  labor  market  for  a  private 
profit.  Houses  devoted  to  this  purpose  are  made  to 
earn  enormous  incomes  and  the  landlords  are  usually 
found  to  be  men  and  women  of  the  highest  rank,  so 
far  as  social  recognition  by  the  social  four  hundred 
can  fix  the  rank  of  the  members  of  that  group.  The 
helpless  woman  who,  under  economic  necessity,  or  be- 
cause misled,  betrayed  and  forsaken,  now  surrenders 
her  body  to  a  trafficker  in  vice,  in  the  same  manner  in 
which  her  brother  must  surrender  his  body  to  his  em- 
ployer, will  never  be  required  under  Socialism  to  give 
her  body  for  vicious  purposes,  for  lack  of  opportunity 
to  give  her  hands  to  the  doing  of  useful  labor.  Then 
there  will  be  no  such  helpless  women.  The  power  of 
a  man  to  enforce  demands  of  any  sort  because  of  the 
economic  dependence  of  women  will  cease  on  the  com- 
ing of  industrial  democracy.  The  temptation  for  men 
and  women  to  rent  their  property  for  purposes  which 
pollute  the  sources  of  life  and  spread  physical  disease 
and  social  disorder  will  disappear  when  the  landlords 


CHAP.  XLII      THE  TRAFFIC  IN  VICE  AND  SOCIALISM  561 

have  given  up  the  earth  and  all  men  and  women  have 
an  opportunity  to  live  without  paying  personal  tribute 
to  any  others.3 

772.  The  Gamblers.— 3.  As  to  gambling:  It  seems 
absurd  for  the  masters  of  the  market,  whose  wheels 
of  fortune  carry,  as  the  stakes  in  their  transactions,  the 
means  of  life  for  the  great  multitudes  of  the  people,  to 
complain  at  the  petty  transactions  of  the  wheels  of 
fortune,  or  the  gamesters '  cards,  or  the  shaking  of  dice, 
or  the  corruption  which  follows  the  gaming  at  the 
races,  for  the  evil  which  follows  in  the  wake  of  these 
things  is  as  nothing  at  all  in  comparison  with  the  cor- 
ruption which  all  the  year  round  is  brought  to  bear  on 
the  youth  of  America  from  the  very  business  of  mak- 
ing a  living,  so  filled  is  modern  life  with  unnecessary 
chances.  But  the  gamblers  on  the  boards  of  trade,  to- 
gether with  the  gamblers  at  the  race  track  and  the 
gaming  room,  will  utterly  lose  their  place  and  power  as 
soon  as  it  shall  become  impossible  for  any  man  to  cor- 
ner and  control  the  opportunity  of  another  to  earn  his 
own  livng  on  equal  terms  with  all  others.  Under  So- 


3.  "In  all  civilized  communities  illegal,  or  immoral,  polygamy  ex- 
ists; but  those  who  indulge  in  the  practice  are  condemned  by  the  social 
code.  The  practice  is  called  'the  social  evil/  and  is  regarded  as  the  most 
painful  and  distressing  phenomenon  of  civilized  life.  This  kind  of  poly- 
gamy tends  to  disappear  as  women  become  economically  free.  The 
number  of  women  who  resort  to  that  method  of  gaining  a  means  of  ex- 
istence is  insignificant  when  compared  with  the  number  who  engage  in 
other  pursuits.  The  method,  too,  is  highly  repugnant  to  those  who  use 
it.  If  honorable  occupation  were  open  to  all  women — occupation  which 
would  be  liberally  remunerative — there  would  be  no  'social  evil/  No 
woman  will  deliberately  choose  a  profession  which  excludes  her  from  as- 
sociation with  her  family,  and  society  in  general,  when  she  is  given  an 
opportunity  of  earning  a  higher  or  an  equal  wage  in  an  honorable  way 
of  life.  This  will  be  admitted  by  all.  The  professional  courtesan  is 
only  an  exaggerated  example  of  the  economic  marriage.  The  only  dif- 
ference between  her  and  the  woman  who  marries,  in  a  legal  way,  for 
convenience  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  courtesan  is  the  instrument  of  many 
men,  while  the  economic  wife  is  the  instrument  of  only  one.  And  in 
many  instances  the  courtesan  has  the  happier  existence,  if  we  eliminate 
her  social  disadvantages.  The  so-called  'social  evil'  is  a  question  of 
pure  economy.  If  the  source  of  it  be  removed,  the  institution  will 
disappear." — Lane:  The  Level  of  Social  Motion,  p.  546. 


562  CURRENT    PROBLEMS  PAR-TV 

cialism,  it  will  be  impossible  for  any  gambler  in  the 
market  ever  to  win  by  trade  control  of  the  opportunity 
of  any  other  to  earn  his  living  on  equal  terms  with  all 
others.  Under  Socialism  it  will  be  equally  impossible 
for  any  gambler  to  either  win  or  lose  by  the  chances 
of  any  game  the  equal  opportunity  of  all  to  earn  and 
to  obtain  the  means  of  life.  When  the  misfortunes  of 
defeat  are  taken  out  of  the  game  of  trade  and  out 
of  the  game  of  cards,  the  gambler's  zest  for  victory  will 
also  disappear. 

773.  Sports  Are  Survivals.— It  is  a  scientific  prin- 
ciple that  the  sports  of  today  are  but  the  survivals  of 
the  serious  business  of  former  days.  Base  ball,  foot 
ball,  the  horse  race,  the  gamester's  table,  are  survivals 
in  the  form  of  sport  of  the  savage  and  barbarian  war- 
fare which  was  unavoidable  in  the  primitive  life  of  the 
race.  But  the  warfare  of  the  market  place,  the  war- 
fare of  the  workshop,  the  warfare  which  buys  and  sells 
the  bodies  of  both  men  and  women  for  purposes  of 
trade,  in  the  store  and  factory,  as  well  as  at  the  brothel, 
still  disposes  of  the  lives  of  its  victims  more  ruthlessly, 
and  with  more  disastrous  consequences  to  those  who 
fall,  than  did  the  tortures  of  savagery  or  the  butchery 
of  barbarism.  Even  the  slaughter  of  the  rapid-firing 
guns  is  merciful  as»compared  to  trade, 
i  774.  Gambling  the  Rule  of  the  Market.— The  vices 
of  the  gaming  room  can  never  be  put  aside  as  long  as 
the  outlawed  usages  of  the  game  remain  the  lawful 
usages  of  the  market.  The  misfortunes  of  war  and  the 
calamities  of  trade  must  cease  their  destruction  of  the 
most  sacred  human  interests  before  there  can  be  any 
rational  grounds  for  demanding  that  the  vices  of  the 
gambler  be  suppressed.  When  the  profit  system  ceases 
in  the  market,  the  profit  system  will  cease  in  the  gam- 
ing room,  and  not  before.  The  coming  of  Socialism 
will  "call  off"  the  warfare  of  the  market.  It  will  abol- 


CHAP.XLII     THE  TRAFFIC  IN  VICE  AND  SOCIALISM  563 

ish  the  brutal  sport  of  getting  something  for  nothing 
as  the  main  business  of  life.  It  may  leave  the  sur- 
vivals of  capitalism  for  the  amusements  of  the  future. 
The  war  of  the  market  may  remain  as  a  survival  in 
some  harmless  sport,  but  it  will  no  more  involve  the 
fatal  consequences  of  the  current  market  than  the  game 
of  base  ball  perpetuates  the  disasters  of  the  primeval 
"battles  to  the  death/'  which  age-long  series  of  inci- 
dents in  the  early  life  of  the  race  created  the  instincts 
which  make  base  ball  possible. 

775.  "A  Roaring  Farce."— Those  who  attend  a 
comic  opera  in  order  to  laugh  at  the  absurdities  of  the 
life  of  the  Middle  Ages,  ought  to  remember  that  the 
old  battle-ax  was  not  made  of  paper.  When  it  was  in 
real  use  it  was  a  very  serious  affair.  It  would  be  just 
as  entertaining  to  anticipate,  were  it  possible  to  do  so, 
the  "roaring  farce"  which  some  wit  of  the  future  will 
make  of  the  justice  court,  or  of  the  supreme  court 
either,  as  to  that  matter,  when  it  shall  be  outgrown  and 
shall  not  any  longer  be  used  for  purposes  of  extortion 
and  so  may  be  freely  laughed  at  as  it  deserves  to  be. 

776.— Prohibition?— If  it  be  asked  whether  under  So- 
cialism, prohibition  will  prevail,  it  is  impossible  <to  say. 
Under  Socialism,  the  sale  of  drinks,  and  the  sale  of 
bread  will  alike  be  free  from  any  motive  for  putting 
poison  into  the  drink  or  alum  into  the  bread. 

777.  The  Saloon.— Will  the  saloon  remain?  It  is 
impossible  to  say.  If  it  remains,  the  character  of  the 
saloon  must  be  vastly  improved.  The  bartender  is  to- 
day a  hired  man.  The  saloon  keeper  wTio  thinks  he 
owns  his  own  establishment  is  the  victim  of  the<purest 
fiction.  The  drinks  he  sells  are  made  by  others.  The 
prices  he  asks  are  fixed  by  others.  The  share  he  pays 
to  society  for  the  privilege  of  engaging  in  this  business 
is  fixed  by  others  and  is  usually  paid  by  others.  The 
individual  retailer  in  drinks  and  drugs  is  practically 


564  CURRENT    PROBLEMS  PABTV 

out  of  business,  and  the  great  syndicates  which,  con- 
trol the  liquor  traffic,  even  now,  in  the  midst  of  the 
terrible  pressure  for  opportunities  for  employment,  are 
able  only  with  the  greatest  difficulty  to  find  men  with 
such  qualities  that  they  can  trust  them  as  their  repre- 
sentatives in  the  traffic  who  still  have  the  capacity 
to  transact  the  business.  Suppose  every  bartender  in 
America  should  be  given  as  good  an  opportunity  to 
earn  a  living  as  any  other  man  on  the  continent,  free 
from  discredit,  free  from  the  long  hours,  free  from  the 
disorders  of  the  disorderly  house,  with  himself  and  his 
family  freed  from  the  contempt  of  which  both  he  and 
they  are  now  the  victims,  but  which  they  rarely  de- 
serve, how  many  saloon  keepers  would  bear  the  dis- 
credit of  the  disorderly  resort  for  the  sake  of  a  busi- 
ness from  which  they  were  receiving  no  personal  ad- 
vantages whatever.  If  places  of  drunkenness  and  dis- 
order shall  exist  under  Socialism,  it  will  be  for  their 
own  sake  and  not  for  the  sake  of  the  profits.  Then, 
for  the  first  time  in  many  centuries,  if  the  vices  remain, 
they  must  find  a  means  of  doing  so  without  the  special 
service  of  "The  Trafficker  in  Vice."  Some  men  will 
bear  the  discredit  of  being  the  keepers  of  disorderly 
houses  for  a  profit  in  the  sale  of  drinks,  so  long  as 
others  are  willing  to  bear  the  discredit  of  being  sharks 
or  thieves  for  the  sake  of  the  profits  in  all  other  lines 
of  trade. 

778.  End  of  the  Profit  in  Vice.— The  profit  system 
is  responsible  for  the  larger  share  of  the  harm  done 
by  drinks,  drugs,  cards,  the  races  and  the  boards  of 
trade.    The  profit  system  can  be  overthrown  in  The 
Traffic  in  Vice  only  by  its  overthrow  in  all  other  lines 
of  business.    The  profit  system  can  be  overthrown  only 
by  the  coming  of  Socialism. 

779.  Total  Abstinence.— If  it  is  asked  will  total  ab- 
stinence then  prevail,  we  do  not  need  to  wait  for  the 


CHAP.  XLII      THE  TRAFFIC  IN  VICE  AND  SOCIALISM  565 

coming  of  Socialism  to  give  a  practical  answer  to  tliis 
practical  question,  for  if  total  abstinence  does  not  pre- 
vail it  is  evident  that  self-possession  and  self-control 
will  prevail,  not  because  enforced  by  legislation  or  by 
social  interference  with  the  personal  habits  of  the  peo- 
ple, but  because  self-possession  and  self-control  will 
speedily  become  a  necessary  condition  to  the  comrade- 
ship essential  to  all  rational  human  life  when  all  men 
are  free  and  personal  excellence  must  become  the  sole 
ground  for  personal  consideration. 

780.  Summary.— 1.  Back  of  all  the  vices  are  eco- 
nomic conditions  which  so  weaken  and  waste  the  forces 
of  life  as  to  lead  to  the  practice  of  the  vices. 

2.  Back  of  all  the  vices  is  The  Traffic  in  Vice,  for- 
ever setting  a  snare  for  the  feet  of  others,  in  enter- 
prises where  the  profits  of  the  trade  of  one  depend  on 
the  physical  and  moral  ruin  of  others. 

3.  Socialism  would  make  possible  such  industrial 
opportunities  that  the  ignorance,  the  long  hours,  the 
exposure,  the  exhausting  toil,  the  economic  depend- 
ence, especially  of  women,  which  make  the  people  easy 
victims  of  the  vendors  of  drugs,  of  evil  solicitations 
and  of  the  chances;  of  the  games  of  chance  will  entirely 
disappear. 

4.  Socialism  would  remove  all  temptation  for  one 
man  to  ruin  another  for  a  profit,  and  so  to  be  a  traf- 
ficker in  the  vices  of  others,  by  providing  equal  oppor- 
tunity for  rational  and  humane  employment  for  all. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  is  vice? 

2.  What  is  The  Traffic  in  Vice  ? 

3.  How  will  Socialism  aff ect  the  harmful  use  of  drugs  ?    As  to  sani- 
tation?   As  to  medical  use  and  as  to  physical  training? 

4.  Why  will  prostitution  cease? 

5.  Why  will  gambling  lose  its  interest  under  Socialism  ? 

6.  What  is  the  moral  difference  between  betting  on  cards  and  bet- 
ting on  the  wheat  market? 

7.  What  relation  have  the  sports  of  to-day  to  the  previous  life  of 
the  race? 

8.  Will  prohibition  be  likely  under  Socialism? 

9.  Why,  if  the  saloon  remains,  will  its  character  change? 

10.  Under  what  conditions  will  vice  remain  under  Socialism? 

11.  Why  will  The  Traffic  in  Vice  come  to  an  end? 

12.  Will  total  abstinence  prevail? 


CHAPTEE  XLIH 

THE    CHARITY    ORGANIZATIONS    AND    SOCIALISM 

781.  Primitive    Co-operation    Not    Charity.— The 
charity  organizations  and  the  poor  laws  belong  exclu- 
sively to  the  era  of  capitalism.    By  this  it  is  not  meant 
that  before  the  development  of  capitalism  there  had 
been  no  provision  made  for  the  relief  of  the  distressed. 
Nor  is  it  true  that  the  appearance  of  the  charity  organ- 
izations marks  the  beginning  in  our  human  nature  of 
a  kindly  regard  one  for  another.    While  great  cruelty 
was  frequently  practiced,  and  even  cannibalism  seems 
to  have  been  universal  at  one  stage  of  man's  develop- 
ment, still  during  the  entire  period  of  savagery  and 
until  the  closing  years  of  barbarism,  common  owner- 
ship and  co-operative  industry,  so  far  as  industry  ex- 
isted, sought  to  provide  for  the  welfare  of  all;  and 
hence,  within  the  primitive  tribal  life  there  was  no 
place  either  for  the  charity  organizations  or  for  any- 
thing which  could  in  any  way  correspond  to  the  poor 
laws  now  in  force. 

782.  Slaves  and  Serfs  Not  Victims  of  Charity.— 
When  this  primitive  co-operative  society  had  been  de- 
stroyed by  tribal  wars  and  the  successful  warriors  had 
been  made  the  masters  and  the  conquered  tribes  had 

566 


CHAP.  XLIII          THE  CHAEITY  ORGANIZATIONS  567 

been  enslaved,  there  was  no  place  for  relief  funds 
among  the  masters  themselves,  and  no  master  would 
have  tolerated  such  an  interference  on  behalf  of  his 
own  slaves  from  the  master  of  a  neighboring  slave  pen. 
The  poor  were  slaves  and,  if  relieved  at  all,  except  as 
they  relieved  each  other,  it  was  by  those  who  were  at 
the  same  time  engaged  as  masters  in  wearing  out  their 
lives. 

The  same  thing  was  true  when,  in  the  growth  of  so- 
ciety, slavery  was  outgrown  and  serfdom  had  taken 
its  place.  If  a  lord  had  needed  relief  from  a  charity 
organization  or  a  poor  fund,  he  would  have  ceased  to 
be  a  lord.  If  a  serf  needed  relief,  it  would  be  provided, 
if  at  all,  by  his  own  lord,  on  whose  land  the  serf  was 
exhausting  his  life  in  enriching  the  very  lord  from 
whom  he  would  seek  relief. 

783.  End  of  Personal  Relations  Between  Masters 
and  Servants. — It  was  necessary  that  a  whole  class 
should  be  developed  among  which  the  unfortunate 
would  be  found,  and  another  class  entirely  distinct 
from  the  unfortunates,  who  were  more  fortunate  than 
they,  and  who  could  be  induced  to  contribute  to  the 
relief  of  those  not  of  their  own  class.  These  character- 
istics of  the  society  which  produces  charity  organiza- 
tions and  poor  laws,  it  is  necessary  to  bear  in  mind. 
So  long  as  the  unfortunate  workers  maintained  per- 
sonal relations  to  those  who  had  personally  profited 
by  their  services  the  obligation  remained  upon  the  in- 
dividuals of  the  more  fortunate  people  to  directly  re- 
lieve the  distress  of  the  less  fortunate,  who  were  indi- 
vidually and  personally  both  the  sources  of  the  mas- 
ters' wealth  and  the  subjects  of  their  care.  But  under 
the  wage  system  the  relations  of  personal  dependence 
are  not  recognized.  The  man  who  hires  labor,  that  is, 
buys  labor,  instead  of  buying  the  laborer,  does  not  ad- 
mit any  obligation  as  resting  upon  him  to  support  his 


568  CURRENT    PROBLEMS  PARTY 

employes,  further  than  by  the  payment  ot  wages.  He 
buys  his  labor  in  the  open  labor  market,  and  if  he  is 
interested  in  relieving  the  distressed,  it  is  upon  the 
ground  that  he  is  himself  more  fortunate,  and  that  he 
ought  to  help  the  helpless,  but  not  upon  the  ground 
that  he  is  under  any  personal  obligation  to  benefit 
those  by  whom  he  has  himself  been  benefited. 

Under  primitive  industry,  however,  all  were  of  the 
same  class.  There  was  no  more  fortunate  class  which 
could  be  induced  to  be,  or  to  pretend  to  be,  especially 
good  to  a  whole  class  less  fortunate  than  themselves. 
All  were  provided  for  in  the  regular  organization  of 
the  tribal  industry.  Neither  the  poverty-stricken  class 
nor  the  class  of  those  who  were  rich  and  able  to  pat- 
ronize, and  accustomed  to  patronizing  those  poverty- 
stricken,  had  any  existence,  and  consequently  the 
charity  organization  made  up  of  the  class  of  those 
unusually  fortunate,  to  relieve  the  distress  of  those 
unusually  unfortunate,  could  not  exist. 

These  classes  did  exist  under  slavery  and  serfdom, 
but  the  relations  between  the  helpless  and  their  mas- 
ters were  direct  and  personal,  and  therefore  the  char- 
ity organizations  and  the  poor  laws  as  they  exist  now, 
could  not  then  exist,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  did  not 
exist. 

784.  The  Early  Church  and  Mutual  Aid  Among  the 
Slaves. — This  statement  is  likely  to  be  disputed  on  the 
ground  that  the  Christian  church  was  boundless  in  its 
charities,  and  from  the  very  beginning  of  its  history 
gave  itself  immediately  and  continuously  to  the  relief 
of  the  distressed.  This  position  is  correct,  but  it  in  no 
way  affects  the  truth  of  our  position.  The  church  was 
a  church  and  not  a  charity  organization.  Long  before 
the  Christian  church  came  into  the  Roman  world,  asso- 
ciations among  the  poor  for  their  mutual  relief,  and 
especially  in  order  to  provide  for  the  decent  burial  of 


THE  CHARITY  ORGANIZATIONS  5G9 

slaves,  .had,  l)een  in  existence.1  It  Is  not  contended  tliat 
there  were.no  associations  among  the  slaves  or  among 
the  evicted  and  helpless  masses  which  the  creation  of 
the  great  Eoman  estate  made  of  those  who  before 
had  been  landholders  within  the  original  territory  of 
the  Eoman  tribes.  These  Eoman  tribes  had  furnished 
the  soldiers  to  conquer  the  rest  of  the  world  and  had 
supported  the  establishment  of  the  private  ownership 
of  the  lands  of  the  conquered  tribes.  At  last,  with  the 
same  measure  with  which  they  had  measured  unto 
others  it  was  measured  unto  themselves. 

These  ancient  landholders,  who  for  a  long  period 
held  their  lands  within  the  original  territory  of  the 
Eoman  tribes,  had  produced  their  own  living  in  much 
the  same  independent  fashion  as  the  American  farmers 
did  for  two  hundred  years  and  until  within  the  last 
half  century.  But  at  last  all  the  territory  adjoining  the 
Mediterranean  had  been  brought  under  the  sway  of  the 
Eoman  authority,  and  the  military  masters  of  the  rest 
of  the  world  at  last  absorbed  the  home  territory  and 
compelled  the  dispossessed  at  home  to  become  as  help- 
less as  .were  those  foreigners  whom  the  soldiers,  who 
were  recruited  from  these  same  Eomans  who  were  now 
themselves  dispossessed,  had  forced  into  slavery. 

The  slaves  seem  never  to  have  utterly  lost  the  ideal 
of  mutual  interest  and  association  for  mutual  benefit 
as  did  their  masters.  It  is  not  only  admitted  that  there 
were  associations  for  mutual  relief  among  the  slaves 
and  the  helpless  freedmen  and  the  remnants  of  the  an- 
cient farmers,  but  on  the  contrary,  there  is  reason  to 
believe  that  the  spirit  of  co-operation  and  of  mutual 
helpfulness  which  existed  in  savagery  and  in  barbar- 
ism, was  never  at  any  time  utterly  destroyed  by  civil* 
ization.  The  Eoman  slave  pen  was  always  being  re- 
filled with  slaves,  captured  in  the  wars  with  the 

1.    Ward:    Ancient  Lowly,  p.  97. 


570  CURRENT    PROBLEMS  PAR-TV 

barians.  These  slaves  were  always  bringing  with  them 
the  instincts  and  habits  of  primitive  life.  Spartacus 
was  not  the  only  slave  to  bring  with  him  the  memories 
of  a  "tender-hearted  shepherd  lad  who  never  knew 
a  harsher  note  than  a  shepherd's  flute." 

On  the  organization  of  the  Christian  church,  it  went 
directly  into  these  voluntary  associations,  already  in 
existence  among  the  slaves,  the  freedmen,  and  the 
evicted,  and  continued  to  do,  in  the  name  of  religion, 
that  which  had  been  done  before  for  humanity's  own 
sake,  and  probably  never  had  ceased  being  done  among 
the  slaves  from  the  time  when  mutual  support  was  the 
universal  custom  of  savagery  and  barbarism. 

The  church  for  a  long  time  found  its  adherents  al- 
most entirely  among  the  poor,  and  its  organization  of 
relief,  instead  of  being  like  the  donations  of  the  mod- 
ern charity  organizations,  was  simply  a  survival  of,  or 
at  least  a  reversion  to,  the  spirit  and  disposition  of 
mutual  support  which  was  everywhere  characteristic 
of  barbarism. 

785.  Public  Provision  for  Roman  Citizens.— Again, 
it  will  be  contended,  that  the  provision  for  the  populace 
of  Rome,  made  from  the  public  treasury,  was  a  poor 
law  actually  in  operation,  and  long  before  the  days  of 
modern  capitalism.  But  the  answer  to  this  is  that  this 
relief  was  especially  and  only  for  the  citizens  of  Borne.2 
The  whole  people  of  the  ancient  civilizations  were  di- 
vided into  two  classes— soldiers  and  slaves.  The  re- 
lief distributed  from  the  Eoman  treasury  was  not  for 
the  slaves,  but  for  the  soldiers;  that  is,  it  was  for  the 
relief  of  that  great  body  of  people  who  were  not  bond- 
men, and  from  whose  ranks,  as  has  been  said,  the  Eo- 
man armies  were  recruited.  The  public  treasury  from 
which  they  were  fed  was  filled  by  the  pillage  of  the 

2.     Liddell:    History  of  Rome,  pp.  537-538;  and  Bliss:  Gesta  Christa, 
p.  98. 


THE  CHARITY  ORGANIZATIONS  571 

very  armies  whose  ranks  depended  upon,  these  same 
citizens  to  keep  them  supplied  with  soldiers. 

It  was  in  no  sense  a  poor  law,  based  upon,  a  system 
of  modern  taxation,  hy  which  the  class>  which  "has  prop- 
erty is  held  to  be  bound  to  see  that  distress  -does  not 
reach  the  starving  point  among  those  who  are  help- 
less and  are  of  the  class  which  is  without  property. 
Instead  of  the  Eoman  distribution  of  food  being  any- 
thing like  the  modern  poor  fund  or  the  modern  charity 
organization,  the  fact  is  that  the  senators  and  gen- 
erals obtained  their  living  by  pillaging  the  balance  of 
the  earth.  Those  of  the  Eoman  populace  who  received 
public  supplies,  were  in  no  proper  sense  the  recipients 
of  charity  or  of  the  poor  master's  allowance.  They 
simply  got  the  bad  end  of  the  bargain  in  the  distribu- 
tion among  the  Eoman  citizens  of  the  pillage  which  the 
Eoman  armies,  recruited  from  their  own  class,  had 
taken  from  the  balance  of  the  earth.  The  matter  of  sur- 
prise is  not  that  they  were  given  so  much,  but  that  they 
were  contented  with  so  little.  They  did  not  get  bread 
alone.  They  were  given  the  arena  as  well  as  the 
granaries,  entertainment  as  well  as  food.  The  spec- 
tacular, public  butchery  of  the  strongest  captives,  as 
well  as  a  dole  from  the  products  of  the  toil  of  those 
less  strong,  was  freely  given  to  the  brutal  crowd  as 
their  share  of  the  spoils  of  war.  If  they  had  not  been 
natural  murderers  themselves  the  pitiful  butchery  of 
the  arena  and  the  scant  provision  for  their  own  sup- 
port would  never  have  satisfied  the  Eoman  populace. 
They  were  bribed  into  accepting  the  scant  provisions 
which  were  furnished  for  their  support  with  the  abund- 
ant provision  which  was  made  for  their  entertainment 
by  the  helpless  slaughter  of  the  arena. 

The  rise  of  modern  capitalism  and  the  coming  in 
of  the  wage  system,  with  the  development  of  modern 
towns  and  the  creation  of  the  modern  factory 


572  CURRENT    PROBLEMS  PABTV 

system,  was  also  the  beginning  of  charity  organ- 
izations. Before  that,  the  guilds  had  provided  for 
their  unfortunate  members  and  the  church  had  pro- 
vided for  the  relief  of  all.  The  church  had  come  to 
be  the  greatest  landlord  in  Europe,  and  her  establish- 
ments were  not  only  the  places  of  refuge  for  those 
broken  in  spirit,  but  places  of  relief  for  all  men  in 
distress.  These  great  properties  had  been  created  not 
only  or  mainly  by  the  gifts  of  those  counted  great, 
but  by  the  direct  industry  of  those  who  had  given  their 
very  lives,  not  as  members  of  one  class  condescending 
to  patronize  another,  but  in  actual  industry  for  the 
creation  of  wealth  in  order  to  provide  an  earthly  refuge 
for  all  the  wayfarers  of  mankind.3 

787.  Confiscation  of  Church  Property.— Henry  VIII 
confiscated  the  property  of  most  of  the  guilds,  of  the 
churches  and  of  nearly  all  the  schools  and  colleges  of 
England,  and  turned  these  properties  over  to  the 
private  possession  and  for  the  private  use  of  his  per- 
sonal favorites.4  This  was  done  in  violation  of  the 
fraternal  spirit  which  existed  in  savagery  and  barbar- 
ism. This  fraternal  spirit  had  not  been  destroyed  by 
the  wars  which  annihilated  the  common  ownership  and 
co-operative  industry  of  primitive  life.  When  this 
spirit  had  departed  from  the  masters,  it  still  survived 
among  the  slaves,  and  when  the  Christian  religion  came 
to  Rome  bringing  the  message  of  good  will,  this  fra- 
ternal spirit  was  already  there  relieving  the  distressed 
and  burying  the  dead.  When  Henry  VIII  confiscated 
the  property  of  the  guilds  and  schools  and  churches,  he 
took  away  from  society  the  only  working  plant  still  in 

3.  Uhlhorn:     Christian  Charity  in  the  Ancient  Church,  pp.  246-273. 
"The  Pope  was  the  greatest  capitalist  of  the  Middle  Ages.     The 

British  Parliament  at  one  time  declared  the  revenues  derived  from  the 
people  of  that  kingdom  by  the  Pope  to  be  five  times  as  great  as  those 
obtained  by  the  Crown." — Walker:  Political  Economy,  p.  424.  Note. 

4.  Rogers:    Six  Centuries  of   Work  and  Wages,  pp.  320-335,  346. 
418  and  550. 


CHAP.XLHI          THE  CHARITY  ORGANIZATIONS  573 

existence  on  which  all  had  claims,  and  left  the  help- 
less utterly  without  the  means  of  relief.  He  dispos- 
sessed the  only  groups  which  still  embodied  the  idea 
of  brotherhood,  and  so  compelled  the  helpless,  among 
those  who  were  dispossessed,  to  beg  relief  at  the  hands 
of  the  benefactors  among  the  class  of  those  who  had 
dispossessed  them.  The  old  fraternalism  of  the  church 
and  guild  was  thus  robbed  of  its  estates  in  order  to 
further  enrich  the  new  paternalism  of  the  capitalist 
system. 

788.  Beginning  of  the  Poor  Laws.— The  distress  be- 
came so  great  and  the  able-bodied  beggar  so.  common 
and  dangerous  that  something  had  to  be  done,  and,  in 
the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  the  daughter  of  Henry  VIII, 
were  enacted  the  first  of  the  poor  laws.5    It  was  the 
avowed  purpose  of  the  law  not  to  relieve  the  distressed, 
but  to  relieve  society  from  the  danger  incident  to  such 
universal  conditions  of  starvation  among  the  helpless. 
It  was  distinctly  reported  by  her  special  commissioners 
and  the  law  was  enacted  on  their  recommendation  that 
it  could  be  so  drawn  as  to  attach  such  disgrace  to  the 
persons  receiving  relief  that  all  self-respecting  people, 
who  were  peaceably  inclined,  would    rather    quietly 
starve  to  death  than  endure  the  disgrace  of  public  re- 
lief.6 

789.  Modern  Charity— Exchanging  Self -Respect  for 
Bread.— All  the  poor  laws,  enacted  in  all  the  coun- 
tries of  Europe  and  America,  have  been  modeled  after 
this  original  statute.     They  are  characterized  by  the 
same  spirit.7    The  charity  organizations  are  not  now  so 
much  concerned  with  the  relief  of  the  helpless  as  with 

5.  Efforts  to  deal  with  this  question  were  made  during  the  brief 
reign  of  her  half  brother,  Edward,  but  the  first  settled  policy  on  the 
question  was  established  under  Elizabeth.    See  Rogers'  Work  and  Wages, 
Chap.    XV.,    also    Henderson's    Dependent,    Defective    and    Delinquent 
Classes,  p.  41. 

6.  Walker:     Political  Economy,  pp.  417-424. 

7.  Henderson:    Dependent,  Defective  and  Delinquent  Classes,  p.  41. 


f,74  CURRENT    PROBLEMS  PARTY 

protecting  the  well-to-do  from  imposition  on  the  part 
of  those  who  claim  they  are  in  distress.8  The  church  has 
become  the  defender  and  the  active  promoter  of  these 
charity  organizations.  But  the  organizations  are  en- 
tirely without  the  fraternal  spirit  of  the  ancient  church. 
The  foundation,  on'  which  could  be  established  any 
mutual  feeling,  is  entirely  wanting.  The  contributors 
do  not  give,  in  order  to  establish  associations  or  insti- 
tutions from  which  they,  in  common  with  all  others, 
may  expect  relief.  The  millionaire's  donation  to  the 
slum  district  soup  kitchen  is  given  without  any  expec- 
tation of  ever  getting  a  dinner  there  himself. 

Nothing  emphasizes  the  class  lines,  nothing  corrupts 
the  spirit  and  disposition  of  the  fortunate,  nothing 
humiliates  and  disgraces,  while  it  emphasizes  the  posi- 
tion of  dependence  of  those  who  are  helpless,  so  much 
as  the  charity  organizations.  If  any  relief  is  given,  it 
is  under  such  conditions  that  whatever  traits  of  manli- 
ness may  still  belong  to  the  unfortunate,  there  is  en- 
forced a  clear  exchange  of  self-respect  for  bread. 

790.  Hospitals    and    Asylums.— Public    hospitals, 
asylums  for  the  insane  and  blind,  and  homes  for  the 
aged,  so  far  as  they  are  able  to  embody  in  actual  work 
the  purpose  for  which  they  exist,  are  not  instances  of 
charity  organizations,  but  they  are  imperfect  expres- 
sions of  the  fraternal  spirit  of  mankind.    So  far  as  they 
fail,  they  do  so  because  of  the  interference  and  corrup- 
tion of  capitalism. 

791.  The  Poor-House.— But   under   the   poor  laws 
and    the    poor-houses,    little    children    and    worn-out 
wrecks  of  long  years  of  exposure  and  distress,  together 
with  the  wasted  lives  of  dissipation,  the  woman  who 
has  worked  and  waited  through  her  years,  and  the 

8.  Notice  how  the  whole  body  of  their  regulations  are  not  drawn 
so  much  to  make  sure  that  there  shall  be  no  suffering  as  to  insure  that 
the  unworthy  beggar  shall  not  be  fed. 


THE  CHARITY  ORGANIZATIONS  575 

woman  who  has  wasted  her  vitality  in  wrongdoing, 
all  are  huddled  together,  despised  and  neglected,  and 
kept  alive  more  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor-house  con- 
tractors than  for  the  relief  of  those  who  are  helpless. 

It  is  not  meant  to  say  that  it  is  the  general  wish  of 
society  that  these  matters  should  be  managed  in  this 
manner.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  believed  that  in  the 
management  of  both  the  charity  organizations  and  the 
poor  laws,  the  general  public  is  continuously  betrayed. 
The  general  public  intends  relief.  This  intention  of  the 
public  is  born  out  of  its  fraternal  spirit,  but  under  the 
capitalistic  management  of  affairs,  this  fraternal  spirit 
of  society  is  able  to  reach  the  helpless  with  the  relief  it 
offers  only  when  its  relief  has  been  so  mixed  with  bit- 
terness that  even  the  tender  mercies  of  capitalism  are 
full  of  cruelty. 

792.  Socialism  and  the  Helpless.— The  defender  of 
capitalism  is  heard  frequently  to  contend  that  Social- 
ism will  make  paupers  or  public  dependents  out  of  all 
the  people,  or  else  Socialism  must  leave  the  crippled 
and  helpless  without  the  means  of  life,  because  the  total 
products  are  to  go  to  the  producers,  and  the  helpless 
surely  cannot  be  required  to  produce. 

Let  it  be  remembered  that,  under  capitalism,  the 
workers  must  depend  on  the  private  owners  of  the 
means  of  producing  the  means  of  life  for  the  opportun- 
ity to  become  producers  at  all.  Socialism  will  remove 
this  dependence  of  all  upon  a  part  and  substitute  in 
its  stead  the  interdependence  of  all  upon  all. 

793.  Mutual  Dependence.— The  dependence  of  the 
workers  under  capitalism  is  the  dependence  of  acknowl- 
edged social  inferiors  on  acknowledged  social  superi- 
ors, and  the  acknowledgment  of  this  relation  is  a  con- 
dition to  which  the  workers  must  submit  in  order  to 
become  producers.     The  dependence  of  the  workers 
under  Socialism  will  be  the  dependence  of  equals  on 


576  CURRENT    PROBLEMS  PAKTV 

each  other.  It  will  be  democracy  instead  of  servitude. 
The  workers  will  depend  on  each  other  only  for  the  op- 
portunity to  become  producers.  Each  worker  will  de- 
pend entirely  upon  himself  as  to  the  industry  under- 
taken, and  upon  the  will  of  all  the  workers,  whose  in- 
terests would  be  the  same  as  his  own,  as  to  the  condi- 
tions, hours  and  distribution  of  products,  rather  than 
as  now,  upon  the  will  of  a  private  employer  whose  in- 
terests are  directly  opposed  to  his  own.  Socialism  will 
make  a  pauper  of  no  one.  It  will  make  free,  self -em- 
ploying, self-governing  and  self-respecting  workers  out 
of  all  the  able-bodied  full-grown  members  of  society 
who  choose  to  become  such  workers.  Should  any  full- 
grown,  able-bodied  member  of  society  choose  to  make 
a  beggar  out  of  himself,  he  will  be  obliged  to  beg  from 
those  who  are  themselves  producers,  every  one  of 
whom  will  know  that  any  such  beggar  may  live,  if  he 
will,  on  the  same  terms  as  the  others  from  whom  he 
begs.  Not  an  encouraging  outlook  for  able-bodied 
beggars. 

794.  The  Crippled,  the  Blind,  the  Aged.— But  what 
of  the  crippled  and  the  blind  and  the  young  and  the 
aged?  Those  too  young  and  those  too  old  for  labor 
will  belong  to  the  producers,  not  the  dependents.  The 
aged  will  have  done  their  share,  or,  if  not,  it  will  be 
too  late  to  demand  a  service  which  they  cannot  render. 
The  young  will  be  the  producers  of  the  future.  The 
able-bodied  workers  will  be  bound  to  care  for  the  aged 
in  return  for  the  care  which  those  now  aged  provided 
for  the  able-bodied  when  they  themselves  were  chil- 
dren, and  the  able-bodied  will  be  justly  required  to  care 
for  the  young  in  anticipation  of  the  care  which  the 
young,  when  full  grown,  will  provide  for  these  workers 
when  they  themselves  shall  join  the  ranks  of  those  be- 
yond the  years  when  productive  service  may  reason- 
ably be  required.  In  these  cases,  the  workers  are  re- 


CHAP.XLIU          THE  CHARITY  ORGANIZATIONS  577 

ceiving  the  full  products  of  their  toil.  A  part  falls  to 
them  in  childhood,  a  part  in  old  age,  the  larger  share 
in  life's  full  tide  of  strength  and  joy  but  in  no  case 
does  one  become  the  personal  or  social  dependent  of 
any  other.  To  be  sure  the  generations  share  in  each 
other's  products,  but  it  is  the  mutual  dependence  of 
equals,  and  that  under  necessary  natural  relations,  not 
the  arbitrary  dependence  of  those  socially  inferior  on 
those  socially  their  superiors. 

And  now  as  to  the  blind  and  the  crippled  and  those 
in  general  who  are  from  birth  physically  or  mentally 
defective.  These  are  heirs  to  the  world's  natural  re- 
sources and  to  all  the  achievements  of  the  past,  along 
with  the  rest  of  all  mankind.  The  production  of  the 
larger  share  of  the  wealth  of  today  is  possible  because 
of  the  invention,  organization  and  industry  of  the  past. 
These  defectives  are  the  joint  heirs  with  all  others  to 
all  natural  resources  and  to  all  these  achievements  of 
the  past.  Unfortunately  they  are  heirs  to  portions  of 
the  life  of  the  past  which  others  have  escaped.  The 
past  has  given  to  them  the  same  claim  to  all  the  wealth 
which  the  past  has  given  to  all  others  in  society,  but 
the  past  has  not  given  to  them  the  strength  to  make 
use  of  this  inheritance.  And  why  not?  Certainly  not 
because  of  any  fault  of  those  who  came  into  the  world 
blind,  or  crippled,  or  diseased  or  helpless  for  any 
cause.9 

795.    Victims  of  Social  Neglect.— The  victim  of  dis- 

9.  "Knowledge  teaches  a  community  to  breed  better  children,  to 
bring  them  up  better,  to  employ  them  better,  to  encourage  them  to  be- 
have better,  and  work  better,  and  play  better,  and  in  their  turn  breed 
children  who  shall  have  better  chances  than  themselves — not  necessarily 
better  chances  to  grow  rich  or  to  become  idle,  but  better  chances  to  be- 
come honorable,  wise,  strong-bodied  and  strong-brained  able  men  and 
women." — Beard:  Industrial  Revolution,  Introduction  (Powell),  p.  8. 

"Socialism  is  a  structure  of  society  which  takes  in  all;  it  leaves  no 
residuum,  no  'submerged  tenth/  This  all  inclusiveness  of  Socialism  ap- 
peals strongly  to  those  who  have  been  discouraged  by  the  patchwork 
and  piecemeal  character  of  other  social  reforms.  Take  'trades  unionism,' 
for  example :  It  has  benefited  great  masses  of  men,  but  it  always  leaves 


578  CURRENT    PROBLEMS  PARTY 

abling  misfortune  is  also  usually  the  victim  of  social 
neglect.  Unguarded  machinery,  unsafe  bridges,  un- 
sanitary conditions,  child  labor,  overwork,  improper 
food,  unchecked  contagion— these  are  the  social  forces 
with  which  society  is  creating  the  helpless.  For,  whose 
fault,  then,  is  this  misfortune  of  birth  or  accident!  Has 
it  not  befallen  the  helpless  because  of  conditions  for 
which  society,  its  usages,  its  wrongs,  its  vices,  its  rob- 
beries, its  neglects  are  more  largely  responsible  than 
all  other  possible  causes?  It  was  the  wrongs  of  society 
which  blinded  the  eyes,  misformed  the  bodies,  blighted 
the  intelligence  of  those  born  to  helpless  lives.  It  was 
the  wrongs  of  society  which  caused  the  strong  bodies  of 
the  workers  "to  be  broken  on  the  wheels"  of  industry. 

It  is  not  a  question  as  to  what  these  defectives  can 
produce.  Society  has  produced  them,  and  society  has 
done  its  work  so  badly  that  she  owes  to  her  helpless  a 
debt  which  she  can  never  pay. 

The  most  society  can  do,  and  it  is  her  great  misfor- 
tune that  she  cannot  do  more,  is  to  lead  those  who  are 
blind,  to  care  for  those  who  are  helpless,  not  as  an  act 
of  charity,  not  because  of  poor  laws,  not  to  the  discredit 
of  those  who  are  helpless,  but  as  an  effort,  so  far  as 
possible,  to  "make  up"  for  the  wrongs  which  in  malice 


behind  a  wretched  class  of  unorganized  wage  earners;  and  even  should 
it  obtain  its  impossible  ideal  of  complete  organization  of  wage  earners, 
it  would  still  leave  behind  the  most  wretched  of  all — the  dependent  and 
delinquent  classes.  Take  charity  organization  in  all  its  various  forms: 
It  endeavors  to  administer  to  the  dependent  classes,  taking  them  one 
by  one;  but  it  leaves  unreached  a  disheartening  number  of  needy  and 
worthy  cases.  In  fact,  those  whom  one  would  like  to  help  are  precisely 
the  most  generally  passed  over  by  charity  organizations.  The  same 
holds  true  with  respect  to  all  private  efforts  to  aid  individual  cases. 
Private  effort  to  reach  the  needy,  one  by  one,  so  resembles  pouring 
water  into  a  sieve  that  many  turn  from  it  in  despair.  Socialism  follows 
the  method  of  Aristotle,  and  proceeds  from  the  whole  to  the  part.  Its 
very  structure  is  such  that  none  are  left  out,  but  ample  room  is  found 
for  the  cripple  as  well  as  the  athlete,  for  the  weak  and  feeble  as  well 
as  for  the  strong  and  powerful." — Ely:  Socialism  and  Social  Reform, 
pp.  1H-115. 


CHAP.  XLIII          THE  CHARITY  ORGANIZATIONS  579 

or  in  ignorance  have  been  committed  at  the  hands  of,  or 
with  the  consent  of  society  itself. 

796.  Charity  the  Shameless  Compromise  of  a  Hope- 
less Bankrupt.— In  the  presence  of  these  helpless  peo- 
ple society  is  a  hopeless  bankrupt.  When  she  has  done 
her  utmost  for  their  protection  and  their  relief  she  has 
not  settled  their  account.  Society,  the  bankrupt  debtor, 
has  given  bread  to  the  helpless  creditor  where  life  has 
been  denied.  Society,  the  bankrupt  debtor,  has  given  a 
guide  to  lead  the  blind  for  the  clear  vision  which  the 
helpless  creditor  has  lost.  Society,  the  bankrupt  debtor, 
has  provided  food  and  drink  to  the  body  of  the  stunted 
mind,  but  vision,  and  strength,  and  gladness,  and  the 
matchless  power  to  know  and  to  understand— these 
society  has  taken  away,  and  these  she  can  never  restore. 
Away  with  the  outrage  of  disgrace  for  the  helpless. 
The  disgrace  belongs  to  society.  More  than  society  can 
ever  pay  belongs  to  the  helpless.  But  do  not  the  prod- 
ucts belong  to  the  producers!  These  helpless  people 
cannot  produce.  These  helpless  people  are  social  prod- 
ucts, the  products  of  the  social  producers.  Society  must 
learn  to  change  the  conditions  which  make  her  the 
producer  of  these  defectives.  But  until  she  does  she 
must  care  for  her  own.10 

10.  "No  less  certain  is  it  that  the  giant  growth  of*  pauperism  in 
these  latter  days  is  largely  due  to  the  iniquitous  individualism  which, 
under  the  specious  formulas  of  'freedom  of  contract/  and  'the  course  of 
trade/  has  withheld  from  the  laborer,  skilled  and  unskilled,  his  fair 
share  of  the  fruits  of  his  labor.  The  laborer  has  sunk  into  a  pauper, 
the  pauper  into  a  vagrant,  a  loafer,  a  confirmed  offender,  and  the  class 
of  habitual  criminals  has  been  formed  as  an  element  of  modern  society. 
The  law  of  human  progress  is : 

"  'Move  upward,  working  out  the  beast, 
And  let  the  ape  and  tiger  die/ 

"But  these  unfortunates  have  retrogressed;  they  have  moved  down- 
ward, working  out  the  man;  and  their  faces  have,  more  or  less,  com- 
pletely lost  the  human  expression.  Their  lineaments  irresistibly  remind 
us  of  the  wild  animals,  to  whose  level  they  have  well  nigh  sunk — the 
wolf,  the  jackal,  the  panther,  the  hyena.  And  these  degraded  beings 
increase  and  multiply,  giving  the  world  a  more  vitiated  progeny — chil- 
dren born  with  special  pre-disposition  for  crime." — Lilly:  First  Prin- 
ciples in  Politics,  pp.  304-305. 


580 


CURRENT   PROBLEMS  PARTY 


797.  Tomorrow  All  Are  Helpless. —In  all  this,  it 
must  be  borne  in  mind  that  under  Socialism  no  one  will 
be  making  charitable  or  beneficent  arrangements  for 
others.    All  are  together  providing  for  themselves.  To- 
morrow one's  strength  must  fail.    Today,  in  helping  to 
determine  the  lot  of  the  helpless,  one  is  fixing  his  own 
condition  for  the  morrow,  for  tomorrow  all  are  helpless. 

798.  Mutual  Aid  Among  the  Poor.— But  the  charity 
organizations  and  the  poor  laws  are  not  the  only  efforts 
to  relieve  distress.    Those  who  are  poor  are  continu- 
ously caring  for  each  other,  not  only  in  benefit  associa- 
tions and  in  the  fraternal  organizations,  but  they  are 
continuously  relieving  each  other  when  out  of  employ- 
ment, in  sickness  and  when  suffering  from  accident,  or 
misfortune  of  any  sort.    The  gifts  to  the  poor  by  those 
who  are  rich,  through  the  charity  organizations,  are  a 
mere  bagatelle  as  compared  to  the  relief  which  the  poor 
are  all  the  time  providing  for  each  other.     There  is 
nothing  more  discreditable  to  our  human  nature  than 
the  charity  organizations  and  the  spirit  and  method  of 
the  administration  of  the  poor  laws.    There  is  nothing 
more  creditable  to  our  human  nature  than  the  daily 
self-denial  of  those  who  are  poor,  in  their  relief  of  each 
other  in  distress.    The  millionaire,  in  times  of  great 
public  distress,  contributes  from  his  abundance  to  a 
soup  kitchen  and  helps  to  keep  alive  the  unemployed 
with  soup  for  food  and  the  stone  floor  of  some  public 
building  for  a  bed;  but  the  poor  open  their  doors  to 
each  other,  "double  up"  within  their  already  over- 
crowded quarters  and  share  together  the  last  crust  in 
their  scanty  larder.    There  is  never  a  call  for  relief  but 
that  the  poor  respond;  there  is  never  an  opportunity 
for  the  children  from  the  families  of  the  poor  to  give 
for  the  relief  of  others,  but  that  the  response  is  instant, 
large-hearted  and  frequently  pathetic  in  the  splendor 
of  its  natural  tenderness.    Public  school  teachers  have 


CHAP.  XLIII          THE  CHARITY  ORGANIZATIONS  581 

sometimes  joined  with  the  children  in  providing 
Thanksgiving  dinners  for  those  who  were  unable  to 
provide  them  for  themselves;  but  in  such  cases  it  has 
not  been  infrequent  that  those  who  brought  the  most 
bountiful  gifts  were  the  very  children  who  should  them- 
selves have  been  the  ones  to  receive  rather  than  to  give. 

799.  Fraternity.— The  fraternal  spirit,  so  manifest 
in  the  life  of  childhood,  so  persistent  in  the  lives  of  the 
poor,  so  foreign  to  the  life  of  capitalism,  is  an  inherit- 
ance of  our  race  from  the  long  centuries  of  co-opera- 
tive industry  and  common  ownership  within  the  tribal 
organizations  of  primitive  life. 

800.  Loss  of  the  Fraternal  Spirit.— It  is  a  curious 
thing  that  all  races  have  traditions  of  a  previous  golden 
age.    It  is  a  curious  fact  that  as  new  tribes  have  been 
discovered  and  the  knowledge  of  the  nature  of  their  in- 
stitutions and  usages  has  been  added  to  the  body  of 
our  knowledge  of  the  race,  with  great  frequency  these 
new  tribes  have  been  found  in  a  condition  of  seeming 
degeneracy  from  a  previous  higher  life.11   They  have 
possessed  evidences  of  having  been  in  possession  of 
institutions  more  advanced  than  they  were  found  to 
possess  at  the  time  of  their  discovery. 

Darwin  calls  attention  even  to  certain  vicious  usages 
found  among  certain  classes  of  human  beings,  which 
the  lower  animals  have  nowhere  been  found  to  prac- 
tice.12 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  every  effort  of  far-reaching 
importance  for  the  improvement  of  the  political  eco- 
nomic conditions  of  the  world  has  always,  at  the  start, 
resulted  in  making  bad  matters  worse.  It  is  impossi- 
ble to  resist  the  conviction  that,  while  civilization  has 
brought  to  our  race  a  sense  of  its  solidarity  a  sense  of 
world  life  and  of  world  power,  has  wrought  out  great 

11.  Carpenter:   Civilization,  Its  Cause  and  Cure,  p.  11. 

12.  Darwin:    Descent  of  Man,  p.  62. 


-rue 


582  CURRENT    PROBLEMS  PARTY 

inventions,  is  bringing  all  lands  under  a  single  world- 
wide social  organization,  has  multiplied  many  times 
the  conveniences  and  comforts  which  it  is  possible  for 
the  race  to  possess— yet  there  seems  to  have  been,  on 
account  of  its  coming,  a  distinct  loss  in  the  spirit  of 
fraternal  relations  among  the  people.  Instead  of  the 
mutual  interdependence  within  the  tribes,  the  bitter 
condescension  of  the  charity  organizations  and  the 
stolid  cruelty  of  the  poor  laws  have  been  thrust  upon  us. 
801.  The  Days  of  Trial.— But  men  were  never  really 
more  degenerate  than  beasts.  The  golden  age  is  not  in 
the  past;  rather  it  is  in  the  future.  This  seeming  loss 
of  the  fraternal  spirit  is  seeming  only,  and  is  not  real. 
It  sleeps,  but  it  is  not  dead.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind 
that  whenever  institutions  or  habits  among  tribes  of 
men  have  been  long  established  and  the  accustomed 
wants  are  regularly  supplied,  under  such  conditions 
men  are  able  to  act  deliberately,  and  so  act  their  best. 
Under  such  circumstances  it  is  at  least  possible  that 
they  shall  consciously  strive  for  improvement,  for  the 
correction  of  those  things  which  are  sources  of  trouble, 
and  the  cultivation  of  those  things  which  have  been 
found  to  be  sources  of  delight.  But  when  new  condi- 
tions arise  where  men  are  thrown  into  strife,  where 
new  and  strange  methods  of  doing  things  have  been 
adopted  and  are  poorly  understood,  then  in  their  blun- 
dering use  of  these  things  they  frequently  bring  dis- 
aster rather  than  blessing.  A  sense  of  confusion  takes 
the  place  of  a  sense  of  security.  Men  are  thrown  into 
despair,  and  in  the  midst  of  their  disappointment  and 
perplexity  they  act  more  from  desperation  than  from 
deliberation.  They  cannot  act  out  the  best  that  Is  in 
them  even  if  they  would.  Under  settled  conditions  the 
best  there  is  in  man  at  least  has  an  opportunity  to  come 
into  the  foreground  and  make  itself  seen  and  heard; 
but  in  such  a  crisis,  all  the  fierceness,  all  the  brutality, 


CHAP.  XLIII          THE  CHARITY  ORGANIZATIONS  583 

all  the  cruelty  that  is  in  man's  nature  so  comes  to  the 
foreground  that  neither  culture  nor  conscience  can  con- 
trol. They  are  thrust  into  the  background.  They  seem 
not  to  exist  because  in  the  midst  of  the  brutal  warfare 
they  are  neither  seen  nor  heard.  The  story  of  civiliza- 
tion records  many  such  scenes,  many  such  periods  of 
disorder  when  men  have  acted  as  nothing  less  than 
demons,  and  of  other  periods  of  peaceful  growth  where- 
in men  have  acted  in  the  fullness  of  a  worthy  manhood. 
But  civilization  has  never  at  any  time  been  able  to 
so  establish  conditions  of  security  and  of  peaceful 
growth,  with  such  provisions  for  the  general  welfare, 
that  our  human  nature  has  been  able  to  bring  itself  to 
the  full  fruition  of  the  good  which  is  really  in  the  heart 
of  man. 

802.  Provoking  Evil.— Modern  capitalism  by  its 
private  monopoly  of  all  that  nature  has  given  and  of 
all  that  man  has  achieved,  has  introduced  such  a  con- 
dition as  to  repeat  for  most  men  the  old  story  of  the 
outcast  whose  "hand  was  against  every  man  and  every 
man's  hand  was  against  him,"  and  in  this  strife  each! 
hour  reveals  the  more  of  demon  and  the  less  of  man. 

803.  "Falling  Upward.' '—But  this  is  only  in  the 
seeming.    Capitalism  must  ripen  into  Socialism.    Then 
it  will  be  found  that  "man  has  not  fallen  except  as  he 
has  fallen  upward."    Under  Socialism,  security  and 
comfort  will  be  within  the  reach  of  all.    Once  again, 
the  highest  choice  will  be  possible.    Once  again,  man 
may  act  with  deliberation,  and  the  voice  of  the  best 
that  is  in  him  will  be  heard  again.    It  will  sing  a  glad- 
der song,  and  reveal  a  nobler  spirit  than  has  yet  been 
known  among  mankind.    Desperation  will  give  way  to 
deliberation,  the  ferocity  of  our  brute  inheritance  will 
yield  to  the  fraternity  which  will  in  part  outlive,  and 
in  part  be  evolved  from  the  very  confusion  which  has 


584 


CURRENT    PROBLEMS  PAR-TV 


been  hiding  from  us  the  highest  qualities  of  our  own 
nature. 

Charity  organizations  and  poor  laws  will  then  have 
no  existence.  The  distress  of  the  wretched  will  furnish 
no  share  of  the  entertainment  of  the  rich  and  idle,  and 
the  misfortune  of  helplessness  will  never  again  be 
branded  with  disgrace. 

804.  Summary.— 1.  Charity  organizations  and  poor 
laws  had  no  existence  in  primitive  society. 

2.  Under  slavery  and  serfdom,  the  masters  and 
lords,  who  wore  out  the  lives  of  the  workers,  in  enrich- 
ing themselves,  provided  for  the  helpless  among  the 
slaves  and  serfs  so  far  as  they  were  provided  for. 

3.  Under  capitalism,  the  employers  sustain  no  per- 
sonal relations  to  the  helpless  among  the  working  class. 
The  employers  wear  out  the  lives  of  those  who  are 
strong  in  enriching  themselves  and  throw  upon  society 
the  responsibility  of  providing  for  the  helpless  among 
those  who  toil,  hence  the  charity  organizations  and  the 
poor  laws. 

4.  Under  Socialism,  the  workers  will  be  their  own 
employers,  will  have  for  themselves  the  total  product 
of  their  labor  and  will  directly  provide,  on  the  Basis 
of  equality  with  themselves,  for  all  the  helpless  among 
them. 

5.  Under  Socialism,  the  relations   of   master   and 
slave,  of  lord  and  serf,  of  employer  and  hired  laborer, 
of  the  giver  of  charity  and  the  dependent,  will  all  and 
utterly  disappear,  and  the  relation  of  brotherhood  will 
cover  all  the  earth  and  will  include  all  mankind. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  Why  were  there  neither  charity  organizations  nor  poor  laws 
under  barbarism,  under  slavery  and  under  serfdom? 

2.  Point  out  the  class  lines  in  the  beginning  of  the  charity  or- 
ganizations. 

How  are  the  personal  relations  of  members  of  the  master  class 
to  the  members  of  the  serving  class,  under  the  wage  system,  different 
| rojn  the  same  relations  under  slavery  and  serfdom  ? 


CHAP.  XLIII          THE  CHARITY  ORGANIZATIONS  585 

4.  How  was  the  mutual  aid  of  the  early  Christian  church  different 
from  the  relief  offered  by  the  modern  charity  organizations? 

5.  Why  ought  not  the  ancient  church  and  the  old  trade  guilds  and 
the  earlier  associations  of  slaves,  to  be  counted  charity  organizations? 

6.  Give  a  reason  for  thinking  that  the  mutual  associations  of  the 
slaves  were  a  survival  from  the  co-operative  society  of  primitive  life. 

7.  Was  the  public  distribution  of  grain  or  bread  among  the  citizens 
of  Rome  an  instance  of  an  ancient  poor  law?    How  did  it  differ  from  a 
modern  poor  law? 

8.  What  provision  was  made  for  the  unfortunate  prior  to  the  time 
of  Henry  VIII? 

9.  What  became  of  the  property  of  the  church  under  Henry  VIII, 
and  his  successors? 

10.  What  was  the  occasion  for  the  first  poor  laws?    What  was  the 
motive  for  their  enactment? 

11.  What  was  the  purpose  of  the  poor  law  which  became  the  model 
for  all  the  rest  enacted  since  then? 

12.  How  do  the  charity  organizations  embitter  the  class  relations? 

13.  Give  the  general  spirit  and  character  of  the  usual  poor  house. 

14.  How,  and  to  what  extent  and  with  what  spirit,  do  the  poor 
relieve  each  other? 

15.  Contrast  the  charities  of  a  millionaire  with  those  of  the  school 
children. 

16.  Whence  conies  this  fraternal  spirit  of  man? 

17.  Explain  the  frequent  seeming  loss  of  character  with  the  ad- 
vance of  the  race  life. 

18.  Why  will  poor  laws  and  charity  organizations  cease  with  the 
coming  of  Socialism? 


PART  VI 
POLITICAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  PROPOGANDA 


CHAPTEE  XLIV 

THE  NATURE  OF  A  POLITICAL  PARTY 

805.  A  Means  of  Escaping  War.— Political  parties 
have  arisen  in  the  modern  political  world  as  the  means 
of  peaceably  representing  conflicting  economic  interests 
in  the  councils  of  the  state.    Political  parties  are  sub- 
stitutes for,  or  are  the  survivals  of,  the  old  military 
organizations  by  which  conflicting  economic  interests 
formerly  settled  their  disputes.    Public  action  through 
political  parties  is  the  last  remaining  alternative,  or 
form  and  means  of  contest,  next  preceding  civil  war. 
Sir  Henry  Maine  says:    "Man  has  never  been  so  fero- 
cious or  so  stupid  as  to  submit  to  such  an  evil  as  war 
without  some  kind  of  effort  to  prevent  it."    The  last 
and  most  effective  of  all  such  peace  measures  is  the  de- 
vice of  the  elective  franchise,  and  the  political  party 
organized  to  make  effective  the  use   of  the  elective 
franchise. 

806.  The  Last  Alternative.— Whenever  the  defeated 
party  in  an  election  refuses  to  submit  to  the  result  of 
the  election,  there  remains  no  other  alternative  than  a 

586 


CHAP.XLIV.  A  POLITICAL  PARTY  587 

reversion  to  the  old  and  only  remaining  arbiter,  that 
is,  a  resort  to  arms.1 

807.  The  Record. —A  brief  sketch  of  the  political 
parties  of  this  country  will  both  illustrate  and  estab- 
lish the  correctness  of  this  position. 

808.  The     Revolutionary     Parties.— The     earliest 
American  political  parties  came  into  existence  as  a 
result  of  the  disputes  which  led  to  the  Eevolutionary 
War.    Those  who  defended  the  mother  country  were 
called  Tories;  those  who  defended  the  position  which 
finally  prevailed  in  America  were  called  Whigs.    They 
could  not  come  to  an  understanding,  and  those  who 
still  stood  for  the  mother  country  were  obliged  either 
to  surrender  to  the  dominant  American  party  or  join 
the  forces  of  the  English  army.    There  was  no  other 
alternative— it  was  submit  or  fight. 

809.  The  Parties  of  the  Constitution.— When  the 
war  was  over  new  questions  of  administration  arose. 
Some  of  the  colonies,  now  independent  of  the  mother 
country,  maintained  a  protective  tariff  and  others  free 
trade.  There  was  no  central  body  with  authority  to  act 
for  all  of  these  new  loosely  confederated  states.    Mary- 
land maintained  free  trade,  and  Virginia  a  protective 
tariff.     Imports  were  landed  on  the  Maryland  shore 
and  taken  across  the  Potomac  for  consumption  in  Vir- 
ginia in  violation  of  the  laws  of  that  state.    The  same 
controversy  was  carried  on  between  New  Jersey  and 
New  York;  betwen  Ehode  Island  and  the  other  New 
England  states.    A  series  of  conferences  representing 
the  conflicting  commercial  interests  led  finally  to  the 

1.  "Party  may  lead  to  civil  strife  and  revolution,  but  it  is  far  from 
aiming  at  violence  in  its  first  formation.  The  violence  is  the  result  of 
opposition."— Woolsey :  Political  Science,  Vol.  II.,  p.  543. 

"Political  power  is  the  ability  of  certain  members  of  a  society 
physically  to  force  the  remaining  members  to  do  their  will.  Govern- 
ment is  the  sum  of  the  force  usable  by  the  rulers  and  applied  to  the  gov- 
erned by  the  instrument  of  force  created  for  that  purpose." — Lane :  The 
Level  of  Social  Motion,  p.  340. 


588  ORGANIZATION  AND  PROPAGANDA  PART  VI 

holding  of  the  constitutional  convention  for  the  pur- 
pose of  revising  the  Articles  of  Confederation  so  as  to 
enable  a  central  government  to  deal  with  this  and  other 
commercial  questions.  The  convention  immediately 
proceeded  to  draft  a  new  constitution.  This  constitu- 
tion was  submitted  to  the  various  states  for  ratification, 
and  after  a  prolonged  and  bitter  campaign  it  was  final- 
ly adopted.  Among  its  opponents  were  Patrick  Henry, 
John  Hancock,  Samuel  Adams  and  others  of  the  most 
active  and  well-known  supporters  of  the  Eevolutionary 
War,  but  when  the  general  decision  of  the  states  was 
finally  made  in  behalf  of  the  new  constitution,  there 
remained  nothing  for  the  opposition  within  the  various 
states  to  do  but  to  surrender  to  this  public  will  or  rebel. 
They  chose  to  surrender. 

810.  Washington's  Cabinet.— In  the  organization  of 
Washington's  cabinet,  representative  men  from  both 
parties  which  had  been  developed  in  the  contest  regard- 
ing the  constitution,  were  made  members  of  the  cab- 
inet. Hamilton  and  Knox,  representing  those  favor- 
able to  the  constitution,  and  Jefferson  and  Eandolph, 
representing  the  opposition.  During  Washington's  ad- 
ministration, questions  of  serious  dispute  were  largely 
fought  out  in  the  cabinet  meetings,  but  during  the  ad- 
ministration of  John  Adams,  the  party  which  had 
favored  the  constituion  and  was  now  known  as  the 
Federalist  party,  so  offended  the  general  public,  par- 
ticularly in  what  was  known  as  the  Alien  and  Sedition 
Laws,  that  the  disputes  extended  beyond  the  cabinet, 
beyond  the  Senate,  beyond  Congress.  Mr.  Jefferson 
became  the  leader  of  the  party  of  opposition.  He  called 
his  new  party  the  Eepublican  party,  and  became  its 
successful  candidate  for  the  presidency.  The  party 
which  had  adopted  the  constitution,  which  had  con- 
ducted the  government  under  the  administrations  of 
Washington  and  Adams,  and  Whose  tendency  was 


CHAP.  XLIV.  A  POLITICAL  PARTY  580 

claimed  to  be  towards  a  monarchy,  which  held  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson to  be  both  dangerous  and  unwise  as  a  public 
man,  was  nevertheless  obliged  to  submit  or  resort  to 
arms. 

811.  End  of  the  Federalists.— The  new  Eepublican 
party  became  the  war  party  in  dealing  with  the  com- 
mercial questions  which  led  to  the  Second  War  with 
England.     The  Federalist  party  was  opposed  to  the 
war,  its  most  active  representatives  even  going  so  far 
as  to  take  steps  in  the  famous  Hartford  Convention 
looking  to  the  secession  of  the  New  England  states, 
and  the  return  of  their  allegiance  to  the  mother  coun- 
try.   Their  purposes  were  made  known  to  the  admin- 
istration by  John  Quincy  Adams,  on  account  of  which 
action  he  withdrew  from  the  Federalist  party  and  be- 
came a  Jeffersonian  Eepublican.     When  the  Second 
War  with  England  was  over,  the  Federalist  party  had 
become  so  discredited  that  it  practically  ceased  to  exist, 
and  Monroe  became  the  President  in  the  succeeding 
election  as  the  choice  of  all  parties.    For  many  years 
American  politics  dealt  with  no  such  serious  problems 
as  to  force  a  reorganization  along  the  lines  of  con- 
flicting economic  interests.    Politics  were  personal  pol- 
itics, and  American  statesmen  were  contending  with 
each  other  over  offices  rather  than  principles. 

812.  Whigs  and  Democrats.— Finally  the  struggle 
between  President  Jackson  and  the  National  Bank  led 
the  general  public  to  take  sides  on  a  direct  economic 
question  which  again  divided  the  country,  with  Mr. 
Jackson  and  Mr.  Clay  each  contending  that  he  him- 
self was  the  real  successor  of  Jefferson  and  the  only 
real  Eepublican;  but  in  order  to  determine  which  kind 
of  a  Eepublican  each  man  was,  the  Jackson  Eepubli- 
cans  called  themselves  Democratic  Eepublicans,  and 
the  Clay  Eepublicans  called  themselves  Whig  Eepub- 
licans, so  that  with  the  dropping  of  the  name  Eepub- 


590  ORGANIZATION  AND  PROPAGANDA  PABTV! 

lican,  the  Democratic  and  Whig  parties  came  into  ex- 
istence. 

Commercial  interests  of  the  very  greatest  importance 
were  involved  in  this  second  election  of  Mr.  Jackson. 
The  war  at  the  ballot  box  has  been  rarely  equaled 
for  the  determination  and  bitterness  with  which  the 
campaign  was  carried  on.  Mr.  Clay  was  defeated;  the 
National  Bank  was  closed  out;  interests  involving  the 
fortunes  of  multitudes  of  Americans  were  set  aside. 
There  was  no  means  by  which  the  conflict  could  be  car- 
ried further.  The  issue  had  been  made  at  the  ballot 
box;  the  defeated  party  was  obliged  to  surrender. 
There  remained  no  other  means  of  carrying  on  the  war- 
fare except  to  resort  to  arms. 

813.  Back   Sighted.— And   then   again,   for   many 
years  these  parties  survived,  not  because  of  new  ques- 
tions which  divided  them,  but  because  of  the  antagon- 
isms which  had  been  created  in  the  Jackson  and  Clay 
campaigns.    For  a  quarter  of  a  century  no  great  ques- 
tion arose,  involving  a  reorganization  of  political  par- 
ties along  the  lines  of  hotly  disputed  economic  ques- 
tions.   While  there  were  serious  disputes  on  the  ques- 
tions which  led  to  the  Mexican  War,  the  most  influ- 
ential partisans  of  both  parties  claimed  to  be  the  spe- 
cial champions  of  the  American  side  in  the  contro- 
versy, and  political  parties  were  not  reorganized  on 
that  account. 

814.  The  Northwest  Territory.— But  the  disposition 
of  the  Northwestern  Territory  presented  to  the  Amer- 
ican government  the  greatest  economic  question  with 
which  it  had  been  obliged  to  deal  since  its  organiza- 
tion. 

New  England  land  speculators  were  buying  up  the 
western  land  and  holding  it  out  of  use  for  speculative 
purposes;  southern  slave  owners  were  anxious  to  oc- 
cupy the  western  lands  and  to  organize  this  territory 


CHAP.XLIV.  A  POLITICAL  PARTY  591 

into  great  slave  plantations;  while  the  frpntiersinen, 
themselves  occupying  portions  of  this  territory,  were 
equally  opposed  to  the  speculators  from  the  East  and 
the  plantation  owners  from  the  South.  They  desired 
these  wild  lands  to  be  held  for  actual  settlement.  They 
wished  this  territory  to  be  held  free  for  the  use  of 
their  own  sons  on  some  plan  which  would  make  their 
children  neither  the  victims  of  the  speculators  from  the 
East  nor  competitors  with  slave  labor  from  the  South. 
They  asked  for  the  homestead  law  as  against  the  specu- 
lator and  for  free  soil  as  against  slave  labor. 

815.  Land  Speculators  and  Plantation  Owners.— 
The  Whig  party  was  controlled  by  speculators  in  the 
East  and  by  plantation  owners  in  the  South;  the  Demo- 
cratic party  was  controlled  by  speculators  in  the  East 
and  by  plantation  owners  in  the  South.    Both  parties 
were  controlled  in  the  Northwest  by  those  opposed 
alike  to  the  land  grabber  and  the  plantation  owner.    It 
was  impossible  for  either  of  the  great  parties  to  repre- 
sent the  Northwest  and  at  the  same  time  keep  the  peace 
with  its  southern    and    eastern    constituencies.      The 
Whig  party  was  broken  into  factions  and  the  North- 
west became  the  leader  of  that  faction  of  Whigs  which, 
reinforced  by  Northwestern  Democrats,  finally  became 
the  Eepublican  party.    The  Democratic  party  was  also 
broken  into  factions,  and  the  Northwest  became  the 
leader  of  that  faction  of  the  Democratic  party  which, 
under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Douglas,  joined  at  last 
with  the  Northwestern  Whigs  ostensibly  in  the  defense 
of  the  American  Union,  but  really  in  behalf  of  the  eco- 
nomic interests  of  the  Northwestern  states. 

816.  Surrender  or  Fight.— In  the  election  of  1860, 
there  were  four  candidates :  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Doug- 
las both  standing  for  the  freedom  of  the  Northwestern 
Territory,  but  with  different  programs  for  securing 
that  end;  Breckenridge  and  Bell,  both  standing  for 


592  ORGANIZATION  AND  PROPAGANDA  PART  VI 

maintaining  and  protecting  the  western  interests  of  the 
eastern  speculators  and  the  southern  plantation  own- 
ers. Mr.  Lincoln  was  elected;  all  other  parties  were 
then  obliged  to  surrender  the  points  of  controversy  and 
to  consent  to  the  freedom  of  the  Northwest  Territory 
both  from  eastern  speculators  and  southern  plantation 
owners  or  rebel.  The  plantation  owners  chose  to  rebel. 
There  remained  no  other  possible  alternative.  They 
were  in  a  position  where  it  was  submit  or  fight,  and 
they  chose  to  fight.  The  speculators  chose  to  surrender. 
The  speculators  surrendered  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Civil  War,  because  they  were  obliged  to  fight  or  sur- 
render, and  for  the  further  reason  that  the  Civil  War 
itself  furnished  a  greater  opportunity  for  immediate 
speculative  transactions  than  had  before  been  offered 
by  the  western  lands.  I  The  scheme  of  railway  land 
grants  was  another  means  by  which  the  speculators 
were  able  still  to  largely  monopolize  the  ^western  land 
in  spite  of  the  homestead  act,  after  having  taken  sides, 
early  in  the  war,  with  the  Northwest  as  against  the 
plantation  owners  of  the  South. 

The  plantation  owners  surrendered  at  the  close  of  the 
war  because,  having  chosen  to  fight,  they  had  exhaust- 
ed to  the  utmost  the  military  resources  at  their  dis- 
posal. 

817.  Voting  and  Fighting^— In  all  these  instances, 
it  is  seen  that  the  party  organization  is  always  a  pos- 
sible military  organization.      Out-voting  has  always 
been  a  preliminary  to  out-fighting,  should  the  defeated 
party  refuse  to  abide  by  the  result  of  a  general  election. 
It  is,  moreover,  seen  that  in  every  instance  the  real 
causes  of  all  these  political  controversies  have  always 
been  conflicting  economic  interests.    Always  the  liberty 
and  the  welfare  of  the  people  have  been  the  rallying 
cries  of  partisan  warfare. 

818.  Ordinary  Issues.— But  there  are  many  public 


CHAP.  XLIV  A  POLITICAL  PARTY  593 

questions  which  are  widely  discussed  and  settled  by 
common  consent  without  forcing  a  reorganization  of 
political  parties,  and  with  no  threat  of  war  as  a  pos- 
sible result  of  defeat  at  the  ballot  box.  It  will  be  found 
on  examining  these  cases  that  in  not  a  single  instance, 
when  questions  of  public  controversy  have  been  so  ad- 
justed, were  there  any  interests  involved  of  such  a  seri- 
ous nature  that  those  interested  on  either  side  were 
ready  to  fight  rather  than  surrender.  There  are  no 
exceptions.  Civil  war,  in  all  lands  and  in  all  times, 
since  organized  opposition  to  the  policy  of  the  admin- 
istration has  been  tolerated  within  the  state— civil  war 
has  always  been  preceded  by  the  organization  or  re-or- 
ganization of  political  parties  along  the  line  of  the  eco- 
nomic interests  in  conflict  within  the  state.  Foreign 
wars  are  caused  by  conflicting  economic  interests  be- 
tween the  warring  nations.  It  is  always  taxes,  or  mar- 
kets, or  tributes,  or  lands ;  always  a  war  for  economic 
advantage. 

819.  The  Referendum.— The  services  which  the  in- 
itiative and  referendum  can  render  are  made  most  evi- 
dent in  this  connection.    It  is  claimed  by  some  of  the 
friends  of  the  measure  that  it  would  abolish  party  rule, 
that  the  people  then,  by  direct  vote,  would  administer 
their  affairs  regardless  of  party  lines.    It  is  no  doubt 
true  that  very  many  questions  could  and  would  be  thus 
settled.    Many  matters,  for  example,  which,  owing  to 
partisan  interests,  or  owing  to  the  pressure  of  other 
questions,  are  now  left  in  neglect,  could  then  be  speed- 
ily given  a  hearing  and  justly  settled  in  accordance 
with  the  real  public  will. 

820.  Exceeding  the  Power  of  the  Referendum.— But 
no  question  which  has  ever  led  to  war  because  of  the 
refusal  of  the  minority  to  obey  the  majority  vote  could 
have  been  settled  in  any  such  way.    No  question  with 
regard  to  which  the  main  controversy  will  come  in 


594  ORGANIZATION  AND  PROPAGANDA  PART  VI 

enforcing  the  decision  rather  than  in  securing  the  ma- 
jority in  its  favor,  can  ever  be  settled  by  a  referendum. 
Majorities  on  questions  of  that  sort  are  of  no  avail 
unless  they  are  so  organized  as  to  directly  administer 
the  proposed  measures,  and  if  necessary  to  forcibly 
compel  the  submission  of  rebellious  minorities.  The 
effort  to  carry  any  measure  so  radical  and  so  far-reach- 
ing as  the  measures  which  the  Socialists  propose,  by 
a  referendum  vote,  is  like  an  effort  to  compel  the  obe- 
dience of  an  armed  and  organized  army  by  simply  de- 
claring the  wishes  of  an  unarmed  and  unorganized 
mob. 

821.  No  Political  Parties— Mere  Appetites  for  Of- 
fice.—It  will  be  seen  from  the  above  that  Burke 's  re- 
mark concerning  a  political  party,  made  more  than  a 
hundred  yars  ago,  will  still  hold.  He  said:  "A  political 
party  is  a  body  of  men  united  for  promoting,  by  their 
joint  endeavors,  the  national  interest  upon  some  partic- 
ular principle  in  which  they  are  all  agreed." 

If  this  is  correct,  and  if  the  above  observations  are 
substantially  true,  it  is  easily  seen  that  the  Democratic 
and  Republican  parties  in  the  United  States  are  not 
now  political  parties  as  related  to  each  other.  The  same 
economic  interests  control  the  country  in  the  event  of 
the  victory  of  either  of  them.  Just  as  succeeding  the 
Second  War  with  England,  political  parties  degener- 
ated to  a  personal  squabble  for  place  and  power;  just 
as  after  the  great  contest  over  the  national  bank,  polit- 
ical parties  became  again  mere  organized  squabbles  for 
place  and  power,  so  now,  since  the  settlement  of  the 
questions  growing  out  of  the  Civil  War,  political  par- 
ties in  America  have  again  become  mere  organized 
squabbles  for  place  and  power. 

Both  the  Republican  and  Democratic  parties  are  the 
survivals  of  old  controversies  between  them,  and  are 
not  now  the  representatives  in  politics  of  conflicting 


CHAP.  XLIV  A  POLITICAL  PARTY  595 

economic  interests,  so  serious  and  so  determined  that 
nothing  less  than  a  resort  to  an  organization  or  re- 
organization of  party  lines  along  the  line  of  this  eco- 
nomic controversy  can  settle  the  dispute;  and,  then, 
only  by  recognizing  that  it  will  be  at  last  and  finally 
necessary  to  surrender  at  the  ballot  box  or  resort  to 
arms.  No  such  victories  have  been  won  and  no  such 
surrenders  have  been  made  by  either  of  these  parties 
since  the  Civil  War. 

822.  There  is  a  Real  Question.— There  are,  however, 
such  conflicting  economic  interests.    They  are  the  in- 
terests of  the  few  who  are  masters  in  conflict  with 
the  interests  of  the  many  who  are  toilers.    These  con- 
flicting interests  are  speaking  in  the  strikes,  in  the  lock- 
outs, in  the  injunctions,  and  their  voice  is  heard  in  the 
sharp  crack  of  the  rapid-firing  gun  by  which  the  toiler 
is  mercilessly  driven  back  to  his  unwilling  task.    These 
interests  will  yet  speak  facing  each  other  at  the  ballot 
box.    But  the  Eepublican  and  Democratic  parties  are 
not  on  opposite  sides  of  this  economic  war.    Only  the 
reorganization  of  political  parties  can  make  this  eco- 
nomic controversy  the  occasion  for  a  sharp  and  con- 
clusive struggle  at  the  ballot  box,  in  which  struggle, 
determined  and  desperate  opposing  economic  interests 
will  first  establish  the  public  authority  of  one  party  or 
the  other  to  act  in  these  matters,  with  the  distinct  un- 
derstanding that  the  party  beaten  at  the  ballot  box 
must  surrender  or  fight. 

823.  A  Part  of  the  Legal  Machinery.—TJntil  very 
recently  political  parties  were  purely  voluntary  organ- 
izations.   They  were  not  required  to  be  organized  un- 
der the  constitutions  of  the  various  states,  or  of  the 
federal  government,  nor  were  they  regulated  by  the 
laws  of  state  or  nation.    The  abuses  of  party  manage- 
ment, the  organization  of  political  rings  and  self -per- 
petuating political  party  machines  became  unendur- 


596  ORGANIZATION  AND  PROPAGANDA  PART  VI 

able,  and  the  laws  of  most  states  have  now  established 
the  political  party  as  a  regularly  organized  and  legally 
constituted  part  of  the  public  machinery  of  the  state. 
The  members  of  no  political  party  can  any  longer  con- 
struct their  own  machinery,  or  manage  their  own  af- 
fairs entirely  in  their  own  way,  and  in  defiance  of  the 
general  public.  No  by-laws,  charters,  committees,  con- 
ventions, clubs,  memberships,  discipline,  or  general 
party  organization  or  management,  are  of  any  force  in 
most  states  unless  they  are  in  compliance  with  the 
state  laws  covering  the  government  of  political  parties 
in  their  purely  party  affairs. 

824.  The  Primary  and  Election  Laws.— The  strug- 
gle for  primary  laws  has  been  a  struggle  for  enforcing 
ttie  political  right  of  the  individual  citizen  to  have 
voice  in  the  management  of  the  political  party  whose 
ticket  he  votes.    It  is  a  part  of  the  movement  for  uni- 
versal suffrage.    For  one's  citizenship  cannot  be  com- 
plete unless  he  has  a  vote  within  the  party  and  in  the 
management  of  the  party,  whose  ticket  he  votes,  as 
well  as  a  vote  for  the  party  when  elections  are  held. 
It  is  evident  that  all  efforts  to  limit  the  management 
of  a  political  party  to  a  restricted  portion  of  those  who 
vote  the  ticket,  are  in  their  essence  a  denial  of  the  right 
of  suffrage.    They  are  in  distrust  of  and  an  attempted 
thwarting  of  the  popular  will.    The  primary  laws  are 
simply  an  effort  to  establish  the  right  of  franchise  in 
the  government  of  parties,  as  well  as  in  government  by 
parties. 

825.  National  Parties  Purely  Voluntary.— In  the 
irrational  organization,  no  such  legal  control  of  political 
parties  has  yet  been  undertaken  and  national  conven- 
tions and  national  committees  may  be  elected,  organ- 
ized and  controlled  in  any  way  tbe  political  parties 
may  themselves  determine. 

But   state   political  party   organizations   only   are 


CHAP.  XLIV  A  POLITICAL  PARTY  597 

legally  recognized  within  the  states.  They  are  the 
only  parties  legally  understood  to  be  in  existence,  and 
within  the  states,  the  state  election  and  primary  laws 
must  be  added  to,  and  must  in  many  particulars  de- 
termine the  nature  of,  party  rules  and  regulations. 

826.  New  Parties— Petitions.— New  political  par- 
ties secure  the  right  to  vote  in  such  states,  not  because 
of  their  party  organizations,  but  because  of  petitions 
signed  by  a  certain  percentage  of  the  citizens.    Then 
the  new  party's  candidates  come  under  the  laws  gov- 
erning petitions,  not  parties.    Whenever  the  new  party 
is  large  enough  to  secure  legal  standing  and  may  act 
as  a  party,  then  the  control  of  the  party  management 
in  most  states  falls,  to  a  great  extent,  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  state  primary  laws. 

While  these  primary  laws  have  undertaken  to  ex- 
tend and  protect  the  popular  franchise,  it  should  not 
be  overlooked  that  they  give  to  the  party  in  power  the 
means  of  seriously  interfering  with  the  organization 
or  re-organization  of  other  political  parties.  It  is  even 
possible,  by  such  an  abuse  of  the  primary  laws,  to  so 
embarrass  a  minority  party,  especially  a  new  party,  as 
to  make  its  existence  practically  impossible. 

827.  Disfranchising  Minorities.— Parties  in  power 
must  not  forget  that  this  may  be  carried  to  the  point 
of  practically  disfranchising  large  numbers  of  people 
interested  in  measures  not  represented  by  existing  par- 
ties, and  so,  by  excluding  them  from  the  only  peace- 
able means  of  being  heard  in  the  councils  of  state,  in- 
cite to  disturbance  the  very  people  who  are  seeking 
for  a  peaceful  adjustment  of  conflicting  interests. 

828.  Summary.— 1.    The  political  party  is  the  last 
remaining  alternative  next  preceding  civil  war. 

2.  Political  controversies  of  such  a  serious  nature 
as  to  involve  the  re-organization  of  political  parties  are 
always  economic  controversies. 


598  ORGANIZATION  AND  PROPAGANDA  PART  VI 

3.  Questions  not  so  seriously  disputed  may  be  and 
ought  to  be  settled  by  referendum  without  party  repre- 
sentation or  support. 

4.  The  current  political  parties  in  this  country  are 
the  survivals  of  organizations  created  by  questions  al- 
ready settled.    They  are  not  the  representatives  of  cur- 
rent clashing  economic  interests. 

5.  The  controlling  power  in  both  the  Democratic 
and  Eepublican  parties  is  the  economic  interest  of  the 
masters— the  toilers  are  unrepresented  except  by  the 
Socialists. 

6.  Political  parties  have  no  legal  existence  except 
under  the  state  laws.    The  primary  election  laws  are  a 
part  of  the  rules  and  regulations  of  all  political  parties. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  How  is  a  political  party  related  to  war? 

2.  Quote  Sir  Henry  Maine. 

3.  Give  an  account  of  the  American  political  parties,  past  and  pres- 
ent, of  their  organization  and  their  relation  to  economic  controversies. 

4.  Why  may  ordinary  questions  be  settled  by  a  referendum  ? 

5.  Why  may  not  controversies  of  the  most  serious  nature  be  so 
settled? 

6.  Why  are  the  Republican  and  Democratic  parties  not  real  politi- 
cal parties? 

7.  How  are  both  of  them  related  to  the  most  important  current 
economic  controversy? 

8.  What  is  the  greatest  political  question  of  the  present? 

9.  In  what  way  are  political  parties  related  to  the  state  laws? 

10.  How  are  new  parties  now  enabled  to  enter  the  field? 

11.  If  new  political  parties  are  prevented  from  organizing,  in  what 
way  must  revolutionary  measures  again  be  fought  out  within  the  state? 


CHAPTER  XLV 

THE   SOCIALIST   PARTY 

829.  Early  Organizations.— The  earliest  efforts  at 
realizing  the  co-operative  commonwealth,  it  has  been 
seen  in  Chapter  XIX,  were  attempts  to  organize  co- 
operative colonies.    When  the  scientific  defense  for  the 
proposals  of  the  Socialists  finally  made  its  appearance 
it  was  during  the  time  when  all  Europe  was  engaged 
in  a  series  of  political  revolutions.1    The  earliest  or- 
ganizations were  necessarily  more  of  an  educational 
than  a  political  nature,  more  for  the  purpose  of  mak- 
ing the  ideas  of  the  Socialists  generally  understood 
than  for  the  purpose  of  directly  organizing  for  the 
purpose  of  putting  them  into  actual  operation.     The 
forms  of  organization  were  necessarily  of  the  nature 
of  clubs,  purely  voluntary,  never  with  any  legal  stand- 
ing, and  they  frequently  existed  in  spite  of  the  direct 
prohibition  of  the  public  statutes. 

830.  Half  a  Century  Ago.— While  scientific  Social- 
ism and  the  organizations  which  have  finally  devel- 
oped into  the  Socialist  political  parties  of  Europe  were 

1.  A  series  of  political  revolutionary  movements  covered  all  Europe, 
culminating  in  the  revolutions  which  sent  to  London  as  political  refugees 
the  authors  of  the  Communist  Manifesto.  This  was  published  in  1848. 
It  was  the  first  and  still  remains  the  most  widely  read  of  the  standard 
international  utterances  of  the  scientific  Socialists. 

599. 


600  ORGANIZATION  AND  PROPAGANDA  PAETVI 

making  their  beginnings  abroad,  the  people  of  the  Unit- 
ed States  were  engaged  in  a  series  of  political  contro- 
versies leading  to  the  Civil  War,  and  then  in  a  series 
of  other  controversies  resulting  from  the  Civil  War. 
More  than  half  a  century  ago  Utopian  Socialism  had 
a  strong  following  in  the  United  States  and  not  infre- 
quently these  Utopian  Socialists  became  active  factors 
in  the  political  activities  of  those  days.2 

831.  In  America.— But  interests  of  this  sort  were 
unable  to  secure  any  hearing  in  the  face  of  the  great 
controversies  leading  to  and  resulting  from  the 
Civil  War;  and  when  the  interests  of  the  working  peo- 
ple commenced  again  to  manifest  themselves  in  Amer- 
ican politics  it  was  with  relation  to  the  questions  di- 
rectly involved  in  the  financial  policies  of  the  govern- 
ment during  and  following  the  Civil  War.  The  great 
preponderance  of  agricultural  voters  in  this  country 

2.  Even  the  word  "Socialism"  is  an  American  product  and  was 
first  applied  to  the  activities  of  the  Utopian  Socialists  of  this  country. 
One  of  the  political  organizations  in  New  York,  which  finally  developed 
into, the  Republican  party,  was  in  its  earliest  activities  controlled  by 
the  Socialists.  The  Workingman's  Party  in  New  York  in  1835,  thirteen 
years  before  the  writing  of  the  "Communist  Manifesto"  declared  for 
the  following  platform : 

"I.    The  right  of  man  to  the  soil:     Vote  yourself  a  farm. 

"II.    Down  with  monopolies,  especially  the  United  States  'bank. 

"III.    Freedom  of  the  public  lands. 

"IV.    Homesteads  made  inalienable. 

"V.    Abolition  of  all  laws  for  the  collection  of  debts. 

"VI.    A  general  bankrupt  law. 

"VII.    A  lien  of  the  laborer  upon  his  own  work  for  his  wages. 

"VIII.    Abolition  of  imprisonment  for  debt. 

"IX.    Equal  rights  for  women  with  men  in  all  respects. 

"X.    Abolition  of  chattel  slavery  and  of  wages  slavery. 

'XI.  Land  limitation  to  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres — no  person, 
after  the  passage  of  the  law,  to  become  possessed  of  more  than  that 
amount  of  land.  But  when  a  land  monopolist  died,  his  heirs  were  to 
take  each  his  legal  number  of  acres,  and  be  compelled  to  sell  the  over- 
plus, using  the  proceeds  as  they  pleased. 

"XII.    Mails,  in  the  United  States,  to  run  on  the  Sabbath." 

They  elected  two  members  of  the  state  legislature  and  turned  the 
majority  vote  of  New  York  to  Andrew  Jackson  in  the  following  presi- 
dential election.  The  Jackson  newspapers  published  regularly  during  the 
campaign  the  above  platform  at  the  head  of  their  editorial  columns. 
(See  Charles  Sotheran:  Horace  Greelev  and  Other  Pioneers  of  Ameri- 
can Socialism,  pp.  83-87.) 


CHAP.  XLV  THE  SOCIALIST  PARTY  601 

and  their  complete  control  of  American  politics  for 
more  than  half  of  the  lifetime  of  the  republic  has  here- 
tofore given  shape  to  the  political  activities  of  labor 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  self-employed  farmer  seek- 
ing protection  as  a  property  owner,  rather  than  from 
the  standpoint  of  working  men  regardless  of  small 
properties. 

832.  The  Populists.— The  revolutionary  spirit  wnictt 
characterized  the  early  Populist  movement  in  the 
western  states  was,  and  was  understood  to  be,  by 
those  most  actively  engaged  in  it,  a  struggle  for  the 
rights  of  " labor  as  against  capital."  In  the  first  na- 
tional convention  held  in  Cincinnati,  on  May  19,  1891, 
the  state  of  Kansas  sent  more  than  one-fourth  of  all 
the  delegates  assembled  from  all  the  states  of  the 
Union.  Many  of  the  most  active  workers  in  the  Kan- 
sas delegation  were  avowed  Socialists  and  did  not  hesi- 
tate in  their  public  utterances  then,  nor  have  they  at 
any  time  since,  to  declare  for  outright  Socialism.  More 
votes  were  polled  for  the  Populist  party  in  Kansas 
than  in  any  other  state,  and  while  single  taxers  and 
others  were  active  in  the  movement,  the  revolutionary 
spirit  which  demanded  the  rights  of  the  toilers  as 
against  the  exploiters  was  the  most  marked  character- 
istic of  the  Populist  campaign.  The  platform  utter- 
ances were  by  no  means  Socialism  nor  even  Socialistic. 
But  while  the  labor  declarations,  which  in  other  plat- 
forms were  simply  perfunctory  utterances,  made  with 
the  hope  of  enlisting  the  support  of  wage  workers,  the 
platform  utterances  of  the  Populists  in  this  respect 
are  seen  to  have  been  expressive  of  a  coming  revolu- 
tion, when  the  sincerity  of  these  utterances  is  remem- 
bered and  their  significance  is  understood.3  On  their 

3.  "The  fruits  of  the  toil  of  millions  are  boldly  stolen  to  build  up 
colossal  fortunes  for  a  few,  unprecedented  in  the  history  of  mankind; 
and  the  possessors  of  these,  in  turn,  despise  the  Republic  and  endanger 
liberty.  From  the  same  prolific  womb  of  governmental  injustice  we 


602  ORGANIZATION  AND  PROPAGANDA  PARTY] 

lips  the  watchword  of  "  Equal  Eights  to  All  and  Spe- 
cial Privileges  to  None,"  was  both  sincere  and  revo- 
lutionary. 

That  the  party  was  finally  captured  by  the  Demo- 
cratic politicians,  and  at  last  became  reactionary  in 
its  general  character,  in  no  way  affects  the  truth  of 
the  position  that  in  its  spirit  and  in  its  original  pur- 
pose the  Populist  party  was  an  expression  of  the  same 
revolutionary  tendencies  in  American  society  which, 
in  the  course  of  half  a  century  of  steady  development, 
have  grown  at  last  into  the  political  Socialist  move- 
ment. It  is  admitted  that  the  Populist  literature  was 
unscientific;  that  the  Populist  proposals  were  insuf- 
ficient; and  it  is  remembered  that  the  Populist  party 
was  utterly  destroyed  in  the  conflicts  between  the 
Democratic  and  Eepublican  organizations ;  and  yet  its 
career  was  an  important  incident  in  the  evolution  of 
the  American  Socialist  movement. 

833.  Imported  Socialism.— The  earliest  political  or- 
ganizations of  scientific  Socialists  in  this  country  were 
undertaken,  not  by  native  Americans,  or  as  a  re- 
sult of  the  political  and  economic  evolution  of  this 
country,  but  by  Socialists  of  foreign  birth,  who  brought 
with  them  the  philosophy  and  the  organization  result- 
ing from  the  forms  of  political  life  and  the  stage  of  the 
economic  development  of  European  countries.  Social- 
ist meetings  were  held,  and  Socialist  organizations  ef- 
fected in  which  the  business  was  transacted  in  foreign 
tongues,  and  the  opponents  of  Socialism  created  the 

breed  the  two  great  classes — tramps  and  millionaires.  *  *  *  A  vast 
conspiracy  against  mankind  has  been  organized  on  two  continents,  and 
it  is  rapidly  taking  possession  of  the  world.  If  not  met  and  overthrown 
at  once  it  forebodes  terrible  social  convulsions,  the  destruction  of  civili- 
zation, or  the  establishment  of  an  absolute  despotism.  *  *  *  Believing 
that  the  forces  of  reform  this  day  organized  will  never  cease  to  move 
forward  until  every  wrong  is  remedied  and  equal  rights  and  equal  priv- 
ileges securely  established  for  all  the  men  and  women  of  this  country." 
From  the  National  People's  Party  Platform,  adopted  at  Omaha,  Neb., 
July  4,  1892. 


CHAP.  XLV  THE  SOCIALIST  PARTY  603 

very  general  impression  that  Socialism  itself  was  a 
matter  of  foreign  importation ;  that  the  political  insti- 
tutions and  economic  forces  of  America  were  neces- 
sarily of  such  a  character  that  Socialism  was  not  only 
foreign,  but  could  not  possibly  have  a  rational  and 
vital  existence  on  American  soil.  It  was  not  until 
after  the  collapse  of  the  Populist  party,  together  with 
the  recent  and  remarkable  development  of  American 
industry,  that  the  Socialist  program,  the  Socialist  pro- 
paganda, and  the  Socialist  political  party  came  to  their 
day  of  opportunity  in  America. 

834.  Inherent   in    American    Life.— The  economic 
evolution  outlined  by  Karl  Marx  is  now  more  advanced 
in  America  than  anywhere  else.    The  political  revolu- 
tion which  this  economic  development  renders  inevita- 
ble is  at  hand,  in  America,  not  because  of  imported 
agitators   or  translated   Socialist  propaganda   docu- 
ments, as  its  opponents  contend,  or  solely  or  mainly 
because  of  the  active  support  of  adopted  citizens  who 
brought  their  Socialism  with  them,  but  simply  because 
it  is  the  logical  outcome  of  the  local  economic  and  po- 
litical situation. 

835.  Economics  and  Politics.— Economic  conditions 
have  always  determined  political  organizations  and 
controversies.     Either  the  economic  conflict  between 
the  exploiters  and  the  exploited  must  be  speedily  ad- 
justed or  the  Socialist  party  must  grow  into  power 
and  the  co-operative  commonwealth  come  into-  exist- 
ence.   But  this  will  not  be  because  the  Socialists  are 
personally  better  or  wiser  men  than  others,  not  be- 
cause the  Socialists  are  faultless.    It  will  be  in  spite 
of  their  faults  and  because  there  is  no  other  way  of 
settling  this  economic  controversy.     The  conflict  is 
irrepressible.    It  must  be  fought  to  a  finish.    It  can 
be  fought  to  a  finish  nowhere  else  than  in  the  field  of 
politics. 


604  ORGANIZATION  AND  PROPAGANDA  PART  VI 

836.  Only  Two  Sides.— There  are  only  two  sides  to 
this  conflict.    Capitalism  is  on  one  side  and  Socialism 
on  the  other.    If  capitalism  continues  to  control,  then 
the  working  class  must  continue  to  exist  under  cap- 
italism because  society  cannot  exist  without  the  work- 
ers.   So  long  as  these  classes  exist  with  antagonistic 
economic  interests,  so  long  this  economic  conflict  must 
last.    But  if  Socialism  prevails  capitalism  will  cease 
to  exist.     Capitalists  will  cease  to  be  capitalists  and 
will  become  useful  members  of  society.    The  conflict 
will  be  over  because  only  one  side  to  the  struggle  will 
have  survived.    Therefore,  regardless  of  the  goodness 
or  wisdom  of  individual  capitalists  and  of  the  baseness 
or  folly  of  individual  Socialists  the  conflict  must  last 
until  Socialism  is  established.4 

837.  Economic  Determinism  and  Politics.— The  So- 
cialist party  is  being  developed  in  America  as  ex- 
plained by  the  principles  of  economic  determinism 
(Chapters  II-III),  and  in  accordance  with  the  political 
institutions  of  America.    That  the  Populist  party  has 
disappeared  as  a  factor  in  American  politics  is  of  great 
advantage  in  the  development  of  the  Socialist  move- 
ment.   The  sole  party  of  opposition  with  any  promise 
of  strength  in  the  contest  with  the  Eepublican,  and 
Democratic  parties  is  now  the  Socialist  party.  By  wise 
councils  and  great  activity,  the  Socialist  party  can  and 
will  hold  this  position.    There  is  no  other  alternative. 
The  economic  enemies  of  the  arrogance  and  the  rob- 
beries inherent  in  capitalism  can  find  standing  room 
nowhere  else  because  Socialism  is  the  only  possible 
working  program  for  the  working  man's  side  of  this 

4.^  "On  the  ground  of  the  class  struggle  we  are  invincible;  if  we 
leave  it  we  are  lost,  because  we  are  no  longer  Socialists.  The  strength 
and  power  of  Socialism  rests  in  the  fact  that  we  are  leading  a  class 
struggle;  that  the  laboring  class  is  exploited  and  oppressed  by  the 
capitalist  class,  and  that  within  capitalist  society  effectual  reforms, 
which  will  put  an  end  to  class  government  and  class  exploitation,  are 
impossible/'— Liebknecht:  No  Compromise,  p.  56. 


CiTAp.XLV  THS  SOCIALIST  PARTY  605 

economic  class  struggle.  The  inadequate  measures  of 
the  Populists,  supported  by  an  effort  to  organize  a 
political  party  devoted  to  labor,  but  in  the  end  con- 
trolled by  the  capitalists,  have  been  proven  futile.  To 
capture  either  of  the  old  parties  and  by  any  process 
whatsoever  convert  it  into  the  political  representative 
of  the  working  class  is  and  has  been  repeatedly  proven 
to  be  impossible.  The  program  of  fusion  between  po- 
litical parties  representing  irreconcilable  economic  in- 
terests has  been  proven  unwise,  and  the  efforts  to  real- 
ize anything  for  the  working  class  by  such  a  program 
hopeless.5 

838.  The   American  Vanguard.— Socialist   parties 
in  other  countries  have  attempted  their    work    and 
grown  to  great  strength  in  spite  of  many  legal  restric- 
tions and  political  disabilities  which  do  not  exist  in 
this  country.    The  elective  franchise  is  more  universal 
here  than  elsewhere,  the  right  of  free  speech  more  care- 
fully guarded,  the  traditions  and  prejudices  of  Amer- 
ican political  life  and  institutions  are  more  on  the  side 
of  freedom,  more  in  behalf  of  equal  opportunity,  and 
the  economic  development  more  complete  in  America, 
and  hence,  the  hour  for  the  inauguration  of  the  co- 
operative commonwealth  nearer  at  hand  in  this  than 
in  any  other  country. 

839.  Her   Historical  Trend   Toward   Socialism.- 
With  the  historical  glorification  of  rebellion  against 
parties  in  power ;  with  the  example  of  party  organiza- 
tion, or    reorganization    repeatedly  undertaken    and 
forced  to  successful  issue  by  American  statesmen,  and 
those  statesmen  the  most  honored  in  American  society ; 

5.  "But  when  one  political  party  proposes  to  fuse  with  another  in 
open  conflict  with  what  it  deems  the  ruling  interest,  in  the  nature  of  the 
case,  it  is,  in  effect,  a  proposition  to  abandon  the  occasion  of  its  own 
existence  for  the  sake  of  the  temporary  advantage  of  its  candidates — 
a  proposition  essentially  and  necessarily  corrupt.  The  only  honest  thing 
for  such  a  party  to  do  is  'to  go  out  of  business.'" — Walter  Thomas 
Mills:  Science  of  Politics,  published  in  1887. 


606  ORGANIZATION  AND  PROPAGANDA  PART  VI 

with  no  hereditary  royalty ;  with  no  acknowledged  aris- 
tocracy; with  no  special  shielding  of  public  authori- 
ties from  the  severest  criticism;— together  with  all 
these  there  exists  almost  universal  contempt  for  the 
policies,  the  committees  and  the  programs  of  the  old 
political  parties,  even  by  those  who  most  regularly 
vote  their  tickets;— these  are  some  of  the  favorable 
conditions  under  which  the  Socialists  are  making  a 
beginning  as  a  party  in  American  politics. 

840.  Partisan  Pitfalls.— It  must  not  be  understood 
from  the  foregoing  that  there  are  no  dangers  in  the 
way  of  the  Socialist  party.    There  are  many  and  they, 
are  very  serious. 

841.  Fusion.—!.    The  danger  from  fusion. 

The  author  of  these  pages  has  recently  been  engaged 
in  a  long  correspondence  with  a  gentleman  whose  con- 
victions are  entirely  those  of  the  Socialist,  but  who  is 
unable  to  persuade  himself  to  join  the  Socialist  party 
because  of  his  experience  in  the  Populist  party  and 
the  destruction  of  that  party  through  fusion.  It  is  an 
easy  thing  to  denounce  fusion  when  there  is  no  one 
with  whom  to  fuse.  If  a  labor  union  party  should  be 
organized,  with  a  platform  declaring  for  factory  laws, 
for  shorter  working  hours,  for  certain  special  advan- 
tages to  the  wage  workers  under  capitalism,  it  would 
not  be  an  easy  matter  to  hold  the  Socialist  movement 
to  its  complete  revolutionary  program.  The  only  pos- 
sible safeguard  is  the  strictest  possible  regulations  in 
the  Socialist  party  organization  against  all  endorse- 
ments, fusions,  compromises,  bargains  or  mutual  un- 
derstandings of  any  sort  whatever  with  any  other  po- 
litical party  regardless  of  its  name,  its  purpose,  or  its 
platform.6 

6.  "All  who  are  weary  and  heavy  laden;  all  who  suffer  under  in- 
justice; all  Avho  suffer  from  the  outrages  of  the  existing  bourgeois  so- 
ciety ;  all  who  have  in  them  the  feeling  of  the  worth  of  humanity,  look  to 
us,  turn  hopefully  to  us,  as  the  only  party  that  can  bring  rescue  and  de- 


CHAP.  XLV  THS  SOCIALIST  PARTY  607 

842.  Capture  By  Its  Foes.— 2.    Another  danger  is 
the  capture  of  the  Socialist  party  and  the  control  of  its 
organization,  its  name,  its  platform,  and  its  world- wide 
prestige  by  men  who  are  not  Socialists,  or  who,  while 
they  helieve  in  the  economics  of  Socialism,  neverthe- 
less attempt  to  practice  tactics  either  morally  repul- 
sive or  politically  outgrown.    To  prevent  this  is  a  more 
difficult  matter.    Many  of  the  proposals  offered  in  this 
connection  simply  mean  that  the  party  can  be  kept 
spotlessly  pure  by  being  held  forever  uselessly  small. 

843.  Primary  Laws.— Under  the  primary  laws  of 
most  states,  the  men  who  vote  the  ticket,  and  in  many, 
those  who  affirm  their  intention  of  so  doing,  are  legally 
given  voice  in  the  control  of  the  party's  councils.7    So 
long  as  the  party  exists  only  by  petition  it  can  govern 
itself  in  whatever  way  it  may  choose,  but  as  soon  as  it 
becomes  an  official  party,  the  laws  of  the  various  states 
determine  largely  the  method  of  its  government,  and 
practically  who  shall  and  who  shall  not  be  permitted 
to  vote  in  its  primaries,  that  is,  have  voice  in  nominat- 
ing candidates,  electing  committees  and  in  writing 
platforms. 

844.  No  National  Primary  Laws.— Fortunately  for 
the  purposes  of  the  Socialist  party,  no  such  legal  regu- 
lations have  yet  been  enacted  regarding  the  organiza- 
tion and  control  of  national  political  parties;  hence, 
the  national  organization,  by  refusing  recognition  to 
such  state  organizations,  in  all  national  matters,  as 
are  not  satisfactory  in  the  form  of  their  organization 

liverance,  and  if  we,  the  opponents  of  this  unjust  world  of  violence,  sud- 
denly reach  out  the  hand  of  brotherhood  to  it,  conclude  alliances  with 
its  representatives,  invite  our  comrades  to  go  hand  and  hand  with  the 
enemy,  whose  misdeeds  have  driven  the  masses  into  our  camp,  what 
confusion  must  result  in  their  minds!  How  can  the  masses  longer 
believe  in  us?" — Liebknecht:  No  Compromise,  p.  42. 

7.  Even  the  name  of  the  Socialist  party  is  not  used  in  New  York 
and  in  Wisconsin  on  account  of  state  election  laws,  while  in  most  states 
the  laws  specifically  provide  that  no  one  who  votes  the  ticket  of  any 
party  shall  be  refused  a  vote  at  its  primaries. 


608  ORGANIZATION  AND  PROPAGANDA  PART  VI 

or  the  nature  of  their  work,  can  provide  some  safe- 
guard against  the  corruption  of  the  party  in  any  of 
the  states.  In  this  way,  those  who  are  not  regularly 
elected,  dues-paying  members  of  the  local  organiza- 
tions within  the  states  can  be  refused  any  voice  in  the 
management  of  national  affairs,  and  the  national  or- 
ganization so  guarded  can  refuse  recognition  to  any 
party  in  a  state  whose  local  action  may  be  found  to  be 
in  violation  of  the  constitution,  or  the  platform  or  the 
rules  of  organization  established  by  the  national  party. 

845.  Limiting  the  Membership.— It  has  been  pro- 
posed to  limit  the  party  membership  within  the  states, 
and  state  party  constitutional  regulations  have  been 
written  and  proposed  with  a  view  of  forbidding  many 
of  those  who  vote  the  ticket  from  being  able  to  obtain 
representation  in  the  party  councils.    Without  regard 
to  whether  this  policy  is  a  wise  one,  it  will  not  be  pos- 
sible to  practice  it,  in  most  states,  under  the  operation 
of  the  primary  laws,  whenever  the  party  shall  have 
become  strong  enough  to  maintain  a  legal  existence 
under  the  primary  laws.    On  the  whole  it  may  be  taken 
for  granted  that,  in  the  long  run,  those  who  vote  the 
Socialist  ticket  will  control  the  Socialist  party,  and 
that  no  devices  for  preventing  this  can  long  postpone 
or  ultimately  prevent  such  a  result. 

846.  Heresy  Trials.— The  heresy  hunt  is  equally  fu- 
tile.   A  man's  voice  in  the  councils  of  the  Socialist 
party  will  not  long  remain  subject  to  the  approval  of  a 
trial  board  established  to  determine  his  orthodoxy  un- 
der a  semi-political  and  semi-ecclesiastical  organiza- 
tion of  a  Socialist  club.8 

847.  Withholding  Charters.— The  giving  and  with- 

8.  "Diversity  of  opinions  on  theoretical  points  is  never  dangerous 
to  the  party.  There  are  for  us  no  bounds  to  criticism,  and  however  great 
our  respect  may  be  for  the  founders  and  pioneers  of  our  party,  we  rec- 
ognize no  infallibility  and  no  other  authority  than  science,  whose  sphere 
is  ever  widening  and  continually  proves  what  it  previously  held  as  truths 


CHAP.  XLV  THS  SOCIALIST  PARTY  6U9 

holding  of  charters  within  state  organizations  are  not 
recognized  by  the  state  laws,  and  will  have  little  force 
in  the  control  of  the  local  organizations,  whenever  these 
organizations  come  to  such  strength  and  power  as  will 
promise  control  in  local  elections,  should  they  be  made 
the  means  of  attempting  to  enforce  unreasonable  party 
regulations. 

848.  Only  Rational  Methods  Can  Prevail.— What- 
ever is  done  to  safeguard  the  Socialist  party,  if  it  is  to 
be  finally  effective,  must  be  so  just  and  so  reasonable 
that  it  will  command  the  confidence  and  respect  of  the 
whole  body  of  the  Socialist  voters,  and  it  cannot  be 
in  violation  of  the  requirements  of  the  state  election 
laws. 

849.  Disfranchisement  a  Failure.— It  is  impossible 
to  safeguard  any  nation  by  disfranchising  any  share 
of  its  citizens;  it  is  impossible  to  safeguard  any  polit- 
ical party  by  refusing  voice  and  vote  to  any  share  of 
those  who  regularly  vote  its  ticket.    Socialism  is  not 
coming  into  existence  because  of  the  shrewdness  or  the 
wisdom  of  the  Socialist  committees ;  the  Socialist  party 
is  not  coming  into  existence  because  a  minority  organ- 
ization of  those  who  want  Socialism  are  in  favor  of 
their  own  party.    Both  Socialism  and  the  political  or- 
ganization which  will  secure  Socialism  are  the  inev- 
itable products  of  the  current  political  and  economic 
development.    As  the  numbers  of  those  who  want  So- 
cialism increase,  they  will  refuse  to  ask  permission  of 
any  committee  or  of  any  organization  as  to  whether 
they  may  or  may  not  be  Socialists,  and  the  state  pri- 
mary laws  will  protect  their  political  rights  in  main- 
taining this  refusal. 

850.  The    Only    Safeguard.— The    one    safeguard, 

to  be  errors;  destroys  the  old,  decayed  foundations  and  creates  new 
ones;  does  not  stand  still  for  an  instant;  but  in  perpetual  advance 
moves  remorselessly  over  every  dogmatic  belief." — Liebknecht:  No 
Compromise,  p.  37. 


310  ORGANIZATION  AND  PROPAGANDA  PART  VI 

the  only  safeguard  that  is  necessary,  and  the  one 
which  must  prove  itself  all-sufficient,  is  to  multiply 
the  number  of  those  who,  because  they  understand  So- 
cialism, really  and  genuinely  want  Socialism,  from 
among  those  who  have  everything  to  gain  and  nothing 
to  lose  from  the  speedy  overthrow  of  capitalism,  and 
who,  understading  the  situation,  therefore,  cannot  be 
misled  in  the  councils  of  the  Socialist  party. 

851.  Discipline  of  Politicians  by  Politicians.— Dis- 
cipline cannot  save  the  Socialist  party  from  the  fate  of 
having  those  who  do  not  understand  the  situation  mis- 
led by  designing  politicians.    The  politician  is  as  likely 
to  manage  a  machine  created  for  that  purpose  as  he 
is  to  be  subject  to  its  disinterested  control.    But  gen- 
eral intelligence  among  the  members,  more  complete 
and  more  universal  knowledge  of  Socialism,  a  clearer 
understanding  of  the  nature  as  well  as  of  the  necessity 
for  a  political  party,  and  a  wider  and  more  active  par- 
ticipation on  the  part  of  all  its  members  in  the  party 
control  will  develop  a  political  party  which  cannot  be 
corrupted  or  destroyed  in  its  struggle  for  the  co-oper- 
ative commonwealth. 

852.  Censorship.— No  official  censorship  of  Social- 
ist literature,  no  official  silencing  of  Socialist  speak- 
ers, no  official  declaration  of  what  the  Socialists  shall 
be  permitted  to  hear  or  what  they  shall  be  permitted  to 
read  can  save  the  Socialist  party  from  dismemberment 
or  betrayal.    Such  means  may  easily  destroy  a  political 
party,  but  they  cannot  save  it.    This  would  be  espe- 
cially true  in  this  country,  where  the  struggle  for  free 
speech,  a  free  press  and  a  fair  fight  in  all  political  con- 
troversies have  been  so  frequently  made  by  the  most 
advanced  and  radical  portions  of  American  society. 

853.  Doctrinal  Purity.— But  it  is  urged  that ' '  sound- 
ness of  doctrine "  can  be  secured  only  by  official  or- 
gans and  official  representatives  on  the  platform.    Oth- 


CHAP.  XLV  THS  SOCIALIST  PARTY  611 

erwise  any  one  may  publish  who  can  find  readers  and 
any  one  may  speak  who  can  find  hearers.  And  it  may 
occur  that  those  who  are  poorly  informed  or  who  are 
purposely  misleading  may  be  able  in  this  way  to  se- 
cure the  widest  hearing  and  that  it  is  easier  by  official 
censure  to  silence  such  a  person  than  to  answer  his 
arguments  or  defeat  his  proposals  by  other  and  better 
measures. 

The  answer  to  all  this  is  that  this  argument  is  very 
familiar.  This  is  the  same  argument  that  has  been 
used  in  defense  of  all  the  imprisonments,  exiles  and 
executions  for  opinion's  sake  for  all  the  centuries  of 
the  past. 

The  Socialist  who  would  attempt  to  protect  the  "doc- 
trinal purity"  of  his  party  by  an  official  censorship  of 
the  activities  of  its  members  could  hardly  complain  if 
the  public  authorities  in  any  particular  city,  attempt- 
ing, in  the  same  way  to  enforce  their  censorship,  in  an 
effort  to  protect  the  "doctrinal  purity"  of  the  com- 
munity should  send  him  to  jail  as  the  most  effective 
method  of  silencing  an  agitator. 

854.  Voice  of  the  Minority.— It  is  a  dangerous  and 
unwise  thing  for  the  Socialists,  who  are  enduring  im- 
prisonment and  outrage  everywhere  for  the  sake  of 
freedom  of  speech  as  related  to  others,  to  speak  slight- 
ingly of  the  contention  for  freedom  of  speech  among 
the  Socialists  themselves. 

855.  Free  Speech  and  Majority  Rule.— Among  So- 
cialists, as  among  all  parliamentary  bodies,  majorities 
must  rule.    But  no  group  of  men  have  ever  worked  to- 
gether who  can  so  illy  afford  to  treat  lightly  the  rights 
of  minorities  within  their  own  ranks.    Only  those  who 
are  conscious  of  the  weakness  of  their  position  would 
fear  debate.    Only  those  who  know  they  cannot  main- 
tain their  position  by  free  discussion  in  a  free  field 
ever  attempt  to  discredit  an  opponent  or  disfranchise 


G12  ORGANIZATION  AND  PROPAGANDA  PART  VI 

an  antagonist  as  a  means  of  defense.  This  is  the  posi- 
tion of  all  Socialists  in  their  contests  with  others.  It 
must  be  their  watchword  and  their  safeguard  in  dis- 
putes among  themselves.  Hear  all  sides,  read  all  sides, 
understand  all  sides,  and  in  that  free  field  and  fair 
fight  of  open  discussion  among  Socialists,  the  man 
who  does  not  understand  will  be  powerless  to  harm, 
and  whoever  does  understand  will  be  unable  to  mis- 
lead, not  because  of  the  faith  of  the  membership  in  any 
man  or  book,  but  because  the  Socialists  themselves  will 
fully  know  the  necessity  of  keeping  their  party  free 
from  all  complications  with  other  parties  or  entangle- 
ments with  any  measures  not  clearly  in  behalf  of  the 
working  class  and  tending  directly  toward  the  utter 
and  lasting  overthrow  of  capitalism.9 

856.  Summary.— 1.  The  Socialist  movement  is  in- 
herent in  the  economic  and  industrial  development  in 
the  United  States  after  the  same  manner  as  in  all  other 
countries. 

2.  The  questions  leading  to  and  growing  out  of  the 
Civil  War  occupied  the  public  thought  of  the  United 
States  for  a  quarter  of  a  century.    This  quarter  of  a 
century  commenced  with  America  in  the  lead  in  the 
Socialist  movement.     It  closed  with  America  in  the 
lead  in  economic  development.    All  economic  and  po- 
litical forces  are  now  culminating  in  a  situation  which 
promises- the  speedy  victory  of  Socialism  in  this  coun- 
try. 

3.  The  great  predominance  of  agricultural  workers 
in  the  United  States  over  all  other  workers  for  so  large 
a  share  of  the  life  of  the  republic  has  made  the  pre- 
liminary political  activities  of  this  country,  which  nat- 
urally lead  to  Socialism  more  largely  in  behalf  of  work- 

9.  "In  the  present  society,  a  non-capitalist  government  is  an  im- 
possibility. The  unfortunate  Socialist  who  casts  in  his  lot  with  such  a 
government  if  he  will  not  betray  his  class  only  condemns  himself  to  im- 
potency." — Leibknecht:  No  Compromise. 


CHAP.  XLV  THS  SOCIALIST  PARTY  613 

ers  who  were  also  small  property  holders  than  in  other 
countries. 

4.  The  Populist  movement  was  such  a  movement. 
But  its  work  and  its  disappearance  lead  directly  to  the 
outright  Socialist  propaganda  in  this  country.  It  more- 
over leaves  the  Socialist  party  the  sole  party  of  opposi- 
tion as  against  all  capitalist  parties. 

5.  The  political  democracy  which  has  been  fought 
for  during  the  three  hundred  years  of  American  his- 
tory and  which  has  been  so  largely  established  in  this 
country,  makes  the  victory  of  industrial  democracy  all 
the  easier  and  enforces  the  necessity  of  maintaining 
complete  democratic  self-government  of  the  Socialist 
party  by  all  Socialists  more  necessary  and  more  inevi- 
table than  in  any  other  country. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  was  the  nature  of  the  first  Socialist  organizations? 

2.  What  was  the  condition  of  the  Socialist  movement  in  America 
half  a  century  ago? 

3.  What  series  of  events  seriously  interfered  with  the  development 
of  Socialist  organizations  ? 

4.  What  effect  did  this  same  series  of  events  have  on  the  economic 
development  ? 

5.  Why  were  the  earlier  working  class  movements  in  politics  com- 
plicated with  measures  looking  to  the  relief  of  small  property  owners? 

6.  How  was  the  Populist  movement  related  to  the  development  of 
the  Socialist  political  organizations? 

7.  How  were  the  recent  political  Socialist  organizations  related  to 
the  movement  in  other  countries?    Is  Socialism  "foreign"  to  America? 

8.  How  are  economics  related  to  politics? 

9.  Why  can  there  be  only  two  political  parties  as  related  to  the 
economic  class  struggle? 

10.  What  facts  in  American  life  will  make  the  movement  in  this 
country  one  of  rapid  growth  ? 

11.  What  is  the  danger  from  fusion? 

12.  What  is  the  danger  from  enemies  of  the  movement  becoming 
active  in  the  party  work? 

13.  Can  the  Socialists  protect  the  integrity  of  their  movement  by 
adopting  a  plan  securing  a  limited  membership? 

14.  How  will  the  primary  laws  affect  the  party  management? 

15.  What  is  the  only  safe-guard? 


CHAPTER    XLVI 

A  QUESTION  BOX 

857.  Equal  Income.— Q.    Will  all  the  people  have 
the  same  income  under  Socialism? 

A.  Socialism  will  bar  from  any  income  those  who  are  able-bodied 
and  render  no  service,  and  will  so  organize  industry  as  to  save  the  waste 
involved  in  capitalism.  The  workers  may  have  equal  incomes  at  one 
time  and  unequal  ones  at  another.  The  joint  workers  will  themselves 
determine  how  they  will  divide  their  joint  products. 

858.  Dividing  With  the  Helpless. -Q.    If  the  help- 
less are  to  be  cared  for,  how  then  will  the  workers  get 
the  full  product  of  their  labor? 

A.  The  helpless  are  provided  for  now  by  the  workers,  not  by  the 
idlers.  Under  Socialism  the  cost  of  improvements,  the  repairs  and  pro- 
vision for  the  young  and  the  helpless,  will  be  necessary  shares  of  the  so- 
cial cost  of  production.  The  net  products  only  can  go  to  the  producers, 
but  from  the  net  products  no  deductions  will  be  made  for  rent,  interest 
or  profit. 

859.  The  Share  of  the  Machines.— Q.    Does  not  ma- 
chinery have  a  large  share  in  production?    Will  the 
machines  be  given  a  share  of  the'products? 

A.  Yes,  all  the  oil  needed  to  keep  down  friction  and  avoid  waste, 
together  with  all  the  care  and  improvements  necessary  to  enable  the  ma- 
chine to  fulfill  the  "end  of  its  being"  will  be  provided  for  machines,  then, 
just  as  now — and  for  working  people,  too,  then  but  not  as  now.  The 
machine  will  not  be  neglected  nor  the  workers  robbed  for  the  benefit  of 
•those  who  are  not  workers. 

614 


CHAP.XLVI  THE  QUESTION  BOX  615 

860.    The  Lazy.— Q.    Ought  the  industrious  to  be 
compelled  to  divide  up  with  the  lazy? 

A.  No,  but  they  are  obliged  to  do  so  now.  When  the  rendering  of 
service  shall  be  the  sole  condition  on  which  the  able-bodied  shall  be  able 
to  secure  the  benefits  of  the  services  of  others,  then  the  able-bodied  who 
are  lazy  will  go  hungry  or  go  to  work.  Now  they  are  frequently  able  to 
escape  work  either  through  the  power  which  the  private  ownership  of 
productive  property,  which  others  must  use,  gives  to  them,  or  by  resort- 
ing to  begging.  The  lazy  who  rob  and  the  lazy  who  beg  will  never  again 
live  at  the  expense  of  those  who  toil. 

I    861.    The  Incentive.— Q.    Will  there  not  be  a  lack 
of  sufficient  incentive  to  action  under  Socialism  ? 

A.  Yes,  there  will  be  no  incentive  at  all  to  adulterate  food,  to  put 
shoddy  in  clothing,  to  steal,  to  defraud,  to  rob,  or  to  hold  a  private  title 
to  lands  or  tools  which  are  collectively  used,  for  when  all  can  have  the 
free  use  of  lands  and  tools  no  one  will  submit  to  being  exploited  in  order 
to  use  either  lands  or  tools;  hence,  the  motive  for  owning  what  others 
use  will  disappear  while,  inasmuch  as  it  will  be  easier  and  safer  to  earn  a 
living  than  to  steal  it,  the  motive  for  every  form  of  theft  will  also  dis- 
appear. 

Not  so,  however,  for  all  kinds  of  worthy  activities.  Now  men  work 
for  a  part  of  what  they  produce  and  get  so  small  an  income  that  they 
have  neither  time  nor  strength  for  anything  else.  Then  life  will  be 
just  as  dear  as  now,  but  by  increasing  the  income  and  shortening  the 
hours  those  who  toil  may  add  to  the  interests  of  life  the  whole  range 
of  social*  and  intellectual  activities.  Socialism  will  not  destroy  the  in- 
centive to  worthy  action.  It  will  preserve  every  worthy  motive  to  ac- 
tion now  in  force  and  add  the  whole  force  of  the  higher  range  of  life's 
most  serious  interests  to  the  lives  of  the  workers.  But  within  the  field 
of  economic  interests  only  it  is  certain  that  any  reasonable  man  would 
work  harder  for  all  he  produces  than  for  only  a  share. 

862.  Boss  Rule.— Q.    Is  not  your  proposal  to  man- 
age the  industries  by  majority  rule  dangerous?     Do 
you  want  a  "Tammany  boss"  to  manage  the  shops  and 
mines  1 

A.  That  is  exactly  what  we  have  now.  The  same  economic  mas- 
ters who  control  all  the  great  industrial  and  commercial  interests  of  the 
country  are  also  the  masters  back  of  all  the  corrupt  political  bosses 
in  existence.  So  long  as  capitalism  remains,  the  "Tammany  boss"  or 
bosses  worse  than  the  "Tammany  bosses"  will  control  both  the  work- 
shop and  the  ballot  box.  The  boss  cannot  be  overthrown  in  politics  so 
long  as  he  is  permitted  to  remain  in  business. 

863.  The  Socialist  Boss.— Q.    Will  not  the  Social- 
ists develop  bosses  among  themselves? 

A.  They  will  not  need  to  develop  them.  They  will  come  into  the 
Socialist  movement  with  the  life-habit  of  capitalism  strongly  entrenched 
in  all  their  methods  of  procedure.  It  is  because  of  this  that  there  is  no 
more  important  matter  for  the  Socialists  than  to  guard  against  boss 
rule  in  their  own  organizations.  But  the  important  point  here  is,  that 
just  so  far  as  the  Socialist  movement  falls  under  the  control  of  any  boss 
in  its  own  management  it  makes  itself  incapable  of  overthrowing  the 


616  ORGANIZATION  AND  PROPAGANDA  PART  VI 

industrial  boss.  Surely  we  can  trust  the  people  not  to  accept  a  "political 
boss"  in  exchange  for  a  "shop  boss."  Capitalism  cannot  live  without  the 
boss,  both  in  the  shop  and  at  the  ballot  box.  Socialism  cannot  come 
without  the  overthrow  of  the  boss  both  in  the  shop  and  at  the  ballot 
box. 

864.  Religion.— Q.    Does  not  Socialism  make  war 
on  religion? 

A.  No.  Capitalism  does.  There  is  not  a  single  religious  precept 
for  the  government  of  human  conduct  which  is  not  contrary  to  the  estab- 
lished maxims  and  usages  of  capitalism.  Socialism  makes  the  only 
economic  proposals  ever  made  for  organizing  industry  and  commerce 
in  a  manner  not  in  violation  of  the  practical  precepts  of  all  the  great 
religions. 

865.  Attacking  the  Rich.— Q.    Does  not  Socialism 
attack  the  rich? 

A.  No.  Socialism  will  make  possible  the  abolition  of  involuntary 
poverty.  Under  Socialism  the  means  of  life  will  be  so  abundant  that 
no  one  would  ever  be  distinguished  above  his  fellows  simply  because  he 
was  thought  to  be  secure  against  want.  The  Socialist  does  not  object 
to  wealth.  What  he  objects  to  is  the  monopoly  of  the  means  of 
producing  wealth. 

866.  The  Family.— Q.    Will  not  Socialism  destroy 
the  family! 

A.  The  family  can  be  greatly  injured  either  by  cutting  off  its 
means  of  support  or  by  so  lowering  the  general  average  of  human  char- 
acter that  the  qualities  which  are  essential  to  the  maintenance  of  the 
family  will  be  found  to  be  lacking  among  the  people.  In  both  of  these 
particulars  it  is  capitalism  which  is  at  fault.  It  puts  the  proper 
support  of  a  family  beyond  the  reach  of  most  men,  and  then  so  exhausts 
the  vitality,  so  engages  in  long  hours  of  toil,  so  exposes  to  conditions 
of  temptation  the  great  body  of  the  workers  that  the  home  qualities 
are  found  to  be  largely  lacking  among  the  workers,  while  among 
the  idle  rich,  who  so  ruthlessly  invade  the  unprotected  homes  of  the  poor, 
by  the  very  wrongs  they  commit  against  the  poor  man's  family,  dis- 
qualify themselves  for  entering  into  the  real  life  of  real  families  of 
their  own. 

It  is  true  that  the  marriage  of  the  future  will  not  be  entered  into 
for  any  economic  consideration  because  of  the  economic  equality  of  op- 
portunity for  all  the  people.  Those  who  contend  that  economic  equality 
will  destroy  the  home  must  hold  that  mercenary  motives  are  the  only 
ones  sufficient  to  lead  to  marriage.  Socialists  believe  that  when  people 
will  no  longer  need  to  marry  for  bread  that  there  are  other  and  better 
reasons  which  will  still  lead  them  to  do  so. 

867.  Anarchists.— Are  not  Socialists  anarchists? 

A.  There  are  many  kinds  of  anarchists.  If  Kropotkin,  Tolstoi, 
William  Penn  and  all  other  non-resistants  are  meant  in  this  question, 
then  it  may  be  readily  admitted  that  many  Socialists  are  non-resistants. 
But  this  question  is  usually  meant  to  mean,  are  not  Socialists  laying 
plans  to  kill  the  rulers  and  destroy  the  governments?  To  this  the 
answer  is  perfectly  evident  and  altogether  conclusive.  The  Socialists 
are  everywhere  trying  to  capture  the  powers  of  the  government  by 
peaceful,  constitutional  methods  in  order  that  the  governmerit  may  be 


CHAP.XLVI  THE  QUESTION  BOX  617 

administered  by  all  and  in  behalf  of  all  who  are  willing  to  give  service 
for  service.  In  all  this  there  is  no  threat  of  violence,  no  purpose  to 
disturb  the  peace  and  good  order  of  organized  society.  It  is  the  capi- 
talists who  threaten  that  should  the  Socialists  come  into  control  of  the 
government,  that  then  the  capitalists  will  refuse  to  obey  the  law. 

868.  Class    Hatred.— Q.    Are    not    the    Socialists 
preaching  class  hatred! 

A.  No.  Class  hatred  arises  from  a  clashing  of  class  interests. 
Capitalists  deplore  class  hatred  and  insist  on  perpetuating  the  economic 
system  which  creates,  maintains  and  sets  over  against  each  other  the 
economic  classes.  Socialists  also  deplore  class  hatred,  but  they  propose 
to  remove  the  cause  by  fighting  out  to  an  end  the  class  war  and  by  secur- 
ing a  victory  for  economic  justice  and  thus  make  an  end  of  the 
economic  war  and  of  the  economic  classes,  and  so  finally  make  an  end 
of  class  hatred. 

869.  Paying  Dues.— Q.   Why  do  the  Socialists  have 
a  dues-paying  system  in  a  political  party! 

A.  (1)  Because  those  interested  in  any  measure  ought  to  pay  the 
cost  of  its  promotion.  (2)  Because  if  the  Socialist  party  is  ever  to  come 
into  power  large  sums  of  money  must  be  expended  in  the  support  of  the 
party.  If  these  sums  are  provided  by  voluntary  contributions  taken 
in  an  irregular  way  the  burden  will  fall  heavily  on  a  few.  If  all  pay 
small  sums,  and  do  so  regularly,  no  one  will  be  seriously  burdened  and 
the  cause  will  be  supported.  (3)  All  should  have  equal  right  to  be  heard 
in  a  political  party.  But  the  dependence  of  the  party  on  the  payments 
of  a  few  would  give  to  that  few  undue  influence  in  the  councils  of  the 
party. 


CHAPTEE     XLVH 

HOW  TO  WORK  FOR  SOCIALISM 

870.  It  is  the  purpose,  of  this  chapter  to  consider 
how  one  who  desires  to  work  for  Socialism  may  do  so 
most  effectively. 

871.  Previous  Training.— In  the  first  place,  it  ought 
to  be  said  that  the  ordinary  training  and  experience 
of  a  political  party  worker  will  not  be  of  any  value 
in  this  undertaking.    You  cannot  urge  the  immediate 
personal  advantage  of  an  immediate  party  triumph. 
The  bribes  of  offices  and  jobs  and  contracts  for  your- 
self or  friends,  wherein  the  gain  of  the  party  may  be 
to  the  advantage  of  the  partisan,  cannot  now,  or  at  any 
time,  be  used  to  make  votes  for  Socialism.    Your  party 
promises  that  the  men  who  work  for  Socialism  and  the 
men  who  work  against  Socialism  shall  alike  secure  its 
benefits  when  Socialism  shall    have    won    the    day. 
Neither  will  there  be  a  chance  to  make  votes  for  your 
party  by  any  effort  to  mislead  or  deceive  the  voters. 
No  form  of  coercion  can  be  used  to  increase  the  num- 
ber of  Socialists.     You  cannot  depend  on  some  fa- 
vorite leader  to  make  his  followers  Socialists.     The 
leader  in  politics  is  but  the  same  thing  as  the  boss  in 
business.    You  must  go  after  the  men,  not  after  their 
leaders.    The  voter  must  be  delivered  from  the  leader. 

618 


CHAP.  XLVII  HOW  TO  WORK  FOR  SOCIALISM  619 

He  must  be  delivered  to  himself.  You  can  never  gain 
anything  by  misrepresentation  or  exaggeration.  When 
you  speak  with  all  truth  and  fairness  your  arguments 
will  seem  so  strange  and  your  figures  so  startling  that 
thoughtful  men  are  sure  to  sift  them  thoroughly  if  you 
are  able  to  win  their  attention. 

872.  Choosing  the  Place  of  Battle.— The  weapons  of 
your  warfare  are  of  a  different  sort.    You  must  pick 
your  place  of  battle  in  another  field.    You  must  speak 
of  the  things  men  love  and  live  for;  your  appeal  must 
be  for  the  welfare  of  all,  for  the  rights  of  childhood,  for 
the  security  of  the  aged,  for  life  and  leisure  for  all 
the  workers,  for  the  peace  of  society,  for  the  brother- 
hood of  the  race.   You  must  address  the  understanding. 
You  must  inform,  convince,  persuade,  unite  to  your- 
self in  the  most  genuine  comradeship,  and  then  fill  with 
enthusiasm  for  the  common  cause.     You  must  make 
of  every  new  man  a  new  worker  who  will  help  to  build 
and  not  help  to  wreck  the  party  of  Socialism. 

In  what  way  can  you  best  do  these  things? 

873.  A  Blank  Book.— It  will  be  found  that  in  every 
department  of  endeavor  that  a  man  succeeds  best,  other 
things  being  equal,  who  will  train  himself  in  the  use 
of  a  note  book.    You  should  get  a  pocket  blank  book 
and  pencil  as  the  first  item  in  your  equipment.    In  this 
book  write  day  by  day  the  things  you  intend  to  do  and 
the  things  you  have  succeeded  in  doing  for  your  party. 
Nothing  will  be  of  importance  enough  to  take  any  of 
your  time  which  will  not  also  be  of  importance  enough 
to  make  a  note  of  it.    Then  at  least  once  a  week  mark 
up  the  book.    By  this,  I  mean  check  off  the  things  you 
have  accomplished  and  make  out  a  new  list  of  the 
things  in  hand  for  the  succeeding  week. 

874.  Your    Country.— The    victory    of    Socialism 
means  the  changing  of  the  views  of  many  millions  of 
people.    Do  not  try  to  reach  them  all.    You  could  not 


620  ORGANIZATION  AND  PROPAGANDA  PART  VI 

do  that.  You  can  reach  a  few  of  them.  Try  to  do 
what  you  can  do.  Select  from  your  friends  or  neigh- 
bors the  men  and  women  whom  you  have  reason  to 
believe  would  be  most  likely  to  be  influenced  by  you. 
Write  these  names  in  your  blank  book.  Give  each  per- 
son a  full  page,  and  as  you  go  on  with  your  work  make 
your  notes  about  each  person  on  his  own  page.  Now 
bear  in  mind  that  you  are  to  be  an  effective  worker  for 
your  party  just  in  proportion  as  you  are  able  to  reach 
these  people.  This  company  of  people  becomes  your 
country,  in  that  so  far  as  you  can  change  the  institu- 
tions of  your  country  you  must  do  so  by  first  changing 
the  views  of  these  people.  If  your  citizenship  is  to 
have  any  power  beyond  your  own  ballot  it  must  be  by 
the  voices  and  ballots  of  these  people. 

They  may  be  likened  to  a  jury  before  whom  you  are 
trying  the  case  of  Socialism.  To  win  your  case  you 
must  convince  the  jury.  It  is  more  than  likely  that 
these  neighbors  of  yours  are  good  jurors.  If  you  can 
make  your  case  clear  enough  and  strong  enough  you 
will  be  able  to  win  your  case. 

875.  Selecting  Your  Jury— Men  to  Avoid.— In  this 
matter  of  selecting  the  people  whose  names  shall  be  on 
your  list  you  must  be  careful  of  your  men.  Selecting 
your  jury  goes  a  long  way  toward  winning  your  case. 

In  making  up  this  list  do  not  put  the  name  of  any 
one  on  the  list  who,  for  any  reason,  you  may  think 
would  be  unwilling  to  see  you.  Don't  become  the  advo- 
cate of  Socialism  among  the  people  who  do  not  like 
you.  There  are  others.  Make  up  your  list  of  those 
with  no  personal  quarrel  with  yourself. 

Do  not  put  on  your  list  any  names  of  those  whom  you 
know  would  feel  that  Socialism  is  in  any  way  an  attack 
on  their  personal  interests.  As  a  rule,  those  who  are 
large  capitalists  or  are  the  special  clerks  and  family 
dependents  of  large  capitalists,  pastors  and  officers 


CHAP.  XLVII        HOW  TO  WORK  FOR  SOCIALISM  621 

of  churches  where  the  capitalist  is  master,  active  poli- 
ticians in  other  parties,  office  holders,  bankers  and 
bank  clerks,  or  any  one  else  who  would  be  likely  to  feel 
satisfied  with  things  as  they  are— none  of  these  ought 
to  be  on  your  list.  You  will  find  public  spirited  and 
capable  people  among  them,  and  as  you  do,  be  sure  to 
put  them  on  your  jury,  but  they  are  likely  to  feel  that 
their  interests  are  opposed  to  Socialism.  Their  turn  is 
coming  when  they,  too,  will  find  in  Socialism  the  only 
escape  from  the  commercial  suicide  of  capitalism,  but 
as  a  rule,  you  can  do  better  work  with  those  more  likely 
to  listen  to  you. 

In  the  next  place,  do  not  put  any  one  on  your  jury 
who  cannot  think.  The  man  who  will  not  think  may 
change  his  mind.  The  man  who  cannot  think  has  no 
mind  to  change.  Only  those  capable  of  understanding 
can  be  made  Socialists.  So  much  for  the  people  to  be 
let  alone. 

876.  Whom  to  Select.— Here  are  the  people  you 
must  be  sure  to  have  on  your  list : 

All  wage  workers,  whether  men,  women  or  children, 
and  then  salesmen,  expressmen,  the  employes  of  the 
great  corporations,  the  mail  carriers,  small  business 
men,  teachers  and  professional  men  whose  occupation 
removes  them  farthest  from  the  petty  interferences  of 
the  large  capitalists. 

We  have  seen  how  the  men  in  the  trades  unions  are 
accustomed  to  assert  their  independence  of  their  em- 
ployers, and  are  furthermore  familiar  with  the  neces- 
sity and  advantage  of  organization.  Do  not  forget  the 
small  farmers,  farm  tenants  and  farm  hands.  They 
have  shown  their  ability  to  act  independently  in  poli- 
tics. Their  interests  are  entirely  with  the  Socialists. 
We  have  seen  that  no  one  will  be  more  benefited  by 
Socialism  than  they.  No  one  is  so  far  from  and  so 
free  from  the  direct  control  of  capitalists  as  they.  No 


622  ORGANIZATION  AND  PROPAGANDA  PART  VI 

one  can  be  more  easily  reached  than  they.  No  one  is 
being  more  seriously  misled  regarding  Socialism  than 
they.  The  capitalists  are  most  pitilessly  robbing  the 
farmer,  and  at  the  same  time  depending  on  him  to  pre- 
vent the  coming  of  Socialism. 

And  again,  do  not  neglect  the  women  and  the  minors. 
It  is  not  only  new  voters  but  new  workers  for  new 
voters  that  are  wanted.  Socialism  means  more  for 
women  than  it  does  for  men.  Women  will  make  most 
effective  workers,  and  you  must  have  them  in  your 
organizations  and  in  large  numbers. 

As  to  minors,  the  boys  will  soon  be  voters,  but  re- 
gardless of  that  fact,  even  children  understand  Social- 
ism easily  and  become  enthusiastic  for  its  triumph. 
Nothing  can  be  a  surer  guarantee  of  the  future  of  So- 
cialism than  the  way  the  young  people  take  hold  of  the 
idea  and  the  determination  with  which  they  go  to 
work  for  it.  Boys  and  girls  twelve  years  old  or  over 
will  be  found  valuable  workers  in  many  ways,  and 
your  organization  must  have  a  place  for  them. 

877.  Where  to  Begin.- Always  work  with  the  easi- 
est man  first.    The  story  is  told  of  a  man  engaged  in 
unloading  wood  who  was  pulling  the  wood  from  the 
bottom  of  the  load  and  with  great  difficulty.    Some  one 
suggested  taking  the  sticks  from  the  top  first,  only  to 
be  told  that  they  were  loose  on  top  and  would  come 
off  any  time.    But  as  the  loose  ones  were  taken  off 
that  would  loosen  the  rest.    So  in  the  growth  of  our 
party,  get  the  man  who  will  come  easiest.    That  in  it- 
self will  make  the  next  man's  coming  easier.    And  thus 
from  one  to  another  until  you  have  reached  and  won 
your  whole  jury. 

878.  How  to  Reach  Them— Conversations.— As  the 
first  means  of  reaching  your  jury  of  neighbors  must 
be  named  conversations  with  them.   In  this  matter  it 
is  usually  best  to  be  as  direct  as  in  presenting  any  other 
matter  of  importance.    If  you  were  trying  to  get  your 


CHAP.  XLVII        HOW  TO  WORK  FOR  SOCIALISM  623 

neighbor  to  take  out  an  insurance  policy  in  some  com- 
pany or  society,  in  which  you  were  interested,  you 
would  never  think  of  beginning  by  nagging  at  him  or 
bantering  with  him  and  provoking  disputes  in  the 
presence  of  others.  You  would  be  likely  to  say  to  your 
neighbor  that  you  had  in  mind  a  matter  of  importance 
which  you  wished  very  much  to  talk  over  with  him  at 
length  and  alone.  You  would  secure  an  appointment 
with  him  for  the  purpose.  You  should  tell  him  when 
you  make  the  appointment  for  this  purpose  that  you 
are  deeply  interested  in  Socialism  and  that  you  want  to 
explain  to  him  some  of  the  things  that  Socialism  would 
surely  accomplish  if  put  into  operation,  and  the  rea- 
sons which  have  compelled  you  yourself  to  become  a 
Socialist.  If  you  have  selected  the  right  man  and  ap- 
proach him  frankly  and  in  a  kindly  manner  you  are 
likely  to  get  your  hearing.  If  you  do  not,  go  to  the 
next  man  until  the  hearing  does  come.  Be  sure  that 
you  do  not  arrange  for  him  to  get  his  neighbors  to- 
gether to  see  you  "beat"  some  one  in  an  argument. 
What  you  want  is  to  win  him  to  your  party.  He  must 
think  coolly  if  he  is  to  understand,  and  the  spirit  of 
personal  strife  is  not  in  keeping  with  the  spirit  of  in- 
vestigation. You  have  gotten  him  interested  to  the 
point  of  wishing  to  know.  Be  sure  that  he  gets  the 
main  points  in  the  Socialist  program  and  that  he  un- 
derstands them.  You  can  do  this  work  very  much  bet- 
ter, one  man  at  a  time,  and  that  man  alone  with  your- 
self during  the  interview.  Under  no  circumstances 
dispute  or  wrangle  or  banter  in  these  talks.  He  is  your 
juror,  and  you  must  convince  him  if  you  are  to  win 
your  case.  The  cause  of  Socialism  depends  on  your 
work  now,  and  you  must  not  be  tripped  into  the  use  of 
angry  words  or  into  any  utterance  which  may  widen 
the  breach  between  you  and  your  juror  and  which  you 
must  fill  before  he  can  come  over  where  you  are. 


624  ORGANIZATION  AND  PROPAGANDA  PABTV! 

Be  prepared  in  these  interviews  as  far  as  possible  to 
discuss  the  topics,  in  which  the  juror  is  most  likely  to 
be  interested.  If  he  is  a  small  merchant,  then  the  great 
department  store  and  the  ultimate  public  market, 
greater  than  the  greatest  store,  the  benefits  of  which 
will  come  to  all,  should  be  your  topic.  If  he  is  a  trade 
unionist,  then  speak  of  the  battle  of  organized  labor, 
the  presence  of  the  unemployed,  the  desirability  of 
having  all  the  workers  in  the  organization,  and  finally 
the  natural  coming  of  Socialism  in  compliance  with 
the  central  demand  of  the  unions  for  shorter  hours, 
larger  returns  to  the  worker,  and  all  workers  provided 
employment  in  the  regular  organization  of  industry. 
If  he  is  out  of  employment  explain  how,  under  capital- 
ism, no  party  nor  policy  can  in  any  way  provide  em- 
ployment for  all  the  people  all  of  the  time,  and  how  So- 
cialism will  make  certain  for  all  who  wish  to  toil  the 
opportunity  to  do  so,  and  that  with  the  full  products  of 
their  toil  for  themselves. 

If  he  is  a  teacher  show  him  how  the  public  school  is 
in  a  way  a  recognition  of  some  of  the  things  which  So- 
cialism contends  for  and  how  hunger,  as  well  as  ignor- 
ance, may  destroy  society.  If  he  is  an  artist  show  him 
how  Socialism  will  win  a  livelihood  and  leisure  for  all 
men,  and  how  the  joy  of  production  may  reach  the  mul- 
titudes who  have  never  known,  and  who,  under  capital- 
ism, never  can  know  anything  but  drudgery  in  toil. 

In  the  same  way,  have  regard  for  his  peculiar  views. 
If  he  thinks  imperialism  is  the  question  of  the  hour, 
emphasize  with  him  the  importance  of  the  subject,  but 
show  him  how  imperialism  is  but  one  phase  of  capital- 
ism, and  that  so  long  as  capitalism  remains  imperial- 
ism will  remain  also.  If  he  wants  the  referendum, 
show  him  that  any  referendum  as  to  which  of  two  pro- 
grams shall  prevail  when  both  are  proposed  by  capital- 
ism will  not  remedy  any  of  the  evils  of  capitalism,  and 


CHAP.  XLVII        HOW  TO  WORK  FOR  SOCIALISM  625 

that  Socialism  is  a  program  so  radical  and  far-reaching 
that  no  impersonal  referendum  can  give  us  Socialism. 
Out-voted  capitalism  will  consent  to  Socialism  only 
when  the  same  vote  which  gives  a  majority  for  Social- 
ism will  also  elect  the  public  officers  who  with  the 
whole  powers  of  the  state  will  inaugurate  Socialism. 
Socialism  can  be  secured  only  by  the  direct  control  of 
all  of  the  departments  of  government  in  the  face  of  the 
most  determined  opposition,  and  only  a  political  party 
can  accomplish  that.  Explain  how  no  capitalist  party 
will  give  us  the  referendum  and  how  the  Socialist 
party  now  governs  itself  by  the  referendum  'and  that 
once  in  power  the  referendum  will  not  only  come  along 
with  the  rest  of  the  Socialist  program,  but  that  it  will 
be  extended  to  cover  joint  control  of  all  the  joint  inter- 
ests of  society. 

In  short,  go  over  and  stand  where  he  is,  wherever 
that  may  be,  and  then  reason  yourself  out  of  his  posi- 
tion and  bring  him  along  with  you  on  return  to  your 
own  position. 

There  is  yet  another  caution  for  you  in  these  conver- 
sations. Do  not  discuss  men.  Do  not  attack  the  party 
favorites  of  the  old  parties.  It  is  more  than  likely  that 
they  have  as  good  a  leadership  today  as  it  is  possible 
for  them  to  have  under  capitalism  whose  servants  they 
are. 

In  the  old  parties  the  greatness  of  its  leaders  depends 
on  their  surrender  to  capitalism.  In  your  party  you 
might  explain  that  no  office  in  the  Socialist  organiza- 
tion can  add  any  power  to  any  man,  that  each  man's 
power  in  the  party  must  depend  solely  and  only  on 
his  intelligence,  character  and  service,  and  that  the  tri- 
umph of  Socialism  will  make  an  end  of  the  trades  and 
pulls  of  current  politics  wherein  great  men  are  made  to 
play  the  role  of  small  ones  and  small  ones  given  the 
role  of  greatness. 


626  ORGANIZATION  AND  PROPAGANDA  PART  VI 

f 

879.  Correspondence.— After  conversation  with  those 
you  can  so  reach,  would  come  correspondence  with 
your  friends  at  a  distance.    They  would  be  glad  to  hear 
from  you.    They  will  be  almost  sure  to  read  what  you 
send  them.    They  may  be  prejudiced  against  Socialism. 
They  are  not  prejudiced  against  you.    Write  to  them. 
Tell  them  that  you  are  a  Socialist,  that  you  are  hourly 
astonished  at  the  false  reports  regarding  Socialism.  In- 
close some  tracts  and  ask  an  opinion  in  reply.    They 
will  be  sure  to  read,  and  if  they  do,  they  must  become 
Socialists.    Whenever  they  say  they  are  Socialists  help 
them  to  organize  for  Socialist  work  wherever  they 
may  be. 

880.  Organization.— Socialism  can  never  come  until 
Socialists  are  in  control  of  the  powers  of  the  state. 
That  means  a  party.    You  are  not  trying  to  create  Sen- 
timent or  to  spread  intelligence  only.    You  are  to  help 
to  organize  those  who  are  Socialists,  to  make  new  So- 
cialists, and  to  organize  them  as  fast  as  you  make  them. 
It  is  not  only  a  majority  of  all  the  votes,  but  those  vot- 
ers in  a  thoroughly  organized  political  party  that  you 
are  after.    If  there  is  no  organization  in  your  place,  get 
your  neighbors  together  and  make  one.    You  must  have 
something  to  join  in  your  own  neighborhood,  and  you 
must  be  able  to  count  your  ^trength  any  day  in  the 
year.    Nothing  will  give  you  courage  more  than  the 
coming  of  the  new  men.    Nothing  will  so  strengthen  the 
action  of  the  newly  made  Socialist  as  to  be  made  at 
once  a  part  of  an  active  working  force.    Proceed  to  give 
the  new  man  party  work.    Show  him  how  to  use  a  blank 
book.    Help  him  to  make  up  his  first  list  of  the  men  he 
is  going  after.    See  him  often,  learn  of  the  results  of 
his  work. 

The  local  organization  will  help  to  anchor  not  only 
the  new  but  the  old  Socialists  as  well.    Within  its  own 


CHAP.  XLVII        HOW  TO  WORK  FOR  SOCIALISM  627 

limits  it  will  afford  the  mutual  strength  of  association 
and  comradeship  in  a  common  cause. 

The  meetings  of  such  an  organization  will  afford  op- 
portunity for  consultation,  for  the  exchange  of  names 
on  the  workers'  lists.  Where  one  has  failed  another 
may  make  a  trial.  When  two  are  after  the  same  per- 
son one  may  drop  the  name  or  both  may  arrange  to  act 
together  and  not  at  odds  with  each  other  in  the  same 
task. 

881.  Cash.— Money  in  politics  is  one  of  the  worst 
features  of  capitalism.  The  vast  sums  collected  from 
candidates,  office  holders,  contractors  and  the  great 
corporations  and  trusts,  all  of  whom  expect  to  be  the 
beneficiaries  of  their  party  victory,  and  these  sums 
expended  corruptly,  involve  the  most  outright  betrayal 
of  our  public  institutions.  This  money  is  used  to  buy 
the  newspapers,  to  bribe  speakers  into  the  utterance 
of  things  which  they  do  not  believe  and  into  silence  re- 
garding the  things  which  they  do  believe,  to  effect 
bogus  organizations  or  to  capture  and  destroy  genuine 
ones,  to  secure  the  mailing  lists  of  social  and  religious 
organizations,  to  offer  prizes  for  the  falsifying  of  elec- 
tion returns,  to  give  banquets  to  bishops  and  judges 
whose  names  are  used  to  conjure  with,  in  dealing  with 
their  admirers,  to  furnish  the  stakes  for  gamblers  who 
will  bet  for  their  candidates,  and  so  commit  the  crim- 
inal to  an  interest  in  the  capitalist  victory,  for  free 
badges,  free  concerts,  free  vaudevilles,  free  excursions 
and  free  drinks  and,  finally,  for  the  direct  purchase  of 
the  votes  themselves.  This  is  the  capitalist  method  of 
campaign.  Whenever  money  in  politics  is  mentioned  it 
is  this  kind  of  a  campaign  which  at  once  occurs  to  the 
minds  of  most  men. 

Socialists  do  not  need  money  for  corrupt  purposes. 
They  need  it  for  halls,  for  printers,  for  books,  for  post- 
age, for  the  cost  of  canvassing,  for  organizing  new 


J23  ORGANIZATION  AND  PROPAGANDA  PART  VI 

fields,  for  conducting  an  open,  honest  campaign  of  edu- 
cation and  organization.  They  have  a  worthy  purpose 
for  every  dollar  for  which  they  ask  and  not  only  ac- 
count for  it  to  their  committees,  but  publish  in  their 
party  press  every  dollar  received  and  every  item  of  ex- 
penditure. 

Socialists  sacrifice  much  and  hazard  more  when  they 
vote  for  Socialism.  But  voting  alone  will  not  give  us 
Socialism.  You  must  get  the  majority  of  all  the  people. 
This  means  your  small  and  regular  gift  of  money  to  the 
party  work.  When  you  get  your  new  members  explain 
to  them  that  you  are  regularly  paying  to  the  party 
funds.  Your  work  is  not  done  until  you  make  your  new 
man  a  payer  for  Socialism  as  well  as  a  voter  for  it.  Ex- 
plain to  him  what  the  money  is  for  and  how  it  is  used. 
Convince  him  that  the  only  way  to  meet  the  corrupt 
money  used  to  control  corrupt  men  is  by  putting  his 
money  into  a  workingman's  campaign  to  reach  by  edu- 
cational methods  the  working  men. 

882.  Literature.— You  will  do  well  if,  on  the  occa- 
sion of  your  first  call  on  any  of  the  men  on  your  special 
list,  you  leave  with  them  a  book  on  Socialism,  for  which 
they  have  paid  or  a  Socialist  paper  for  which  they  have 
subscribed.  While  you  are  there  they  may  be  inclined 
to  dispute  you,  to  talk  back  in  an  irrational  manner,  but 
if  you  leave  with  them  some  book  or  pamphlet,  they 
will  become  interested  in  reading  and  will  have  no  one 
to  whom  to  talk  back.  Socialism  always  gets  its  most 
unprejudiced  hearing  when  it  is  read  about  rather  than 
talked  about.  If  you  cannot  sell  the  book,  then  lend  it. 
Do  not  give  it,  but  lend  it  instead.  That  may  give  you 
an  excuse  for  an  earlier  call  again  than  even  if  they 
had  paid  for  it.  But  whether  lent  or  sold,  you  can  fol- 
low up  your  next  meeting  by  calling  attention  to  the 
points  in  the  book  they  have  read,  and  so  the  reading 
and  talking  will  help  each  other. 


CHAP.  XLVII        HOW  TO  WORK  FOR  SOCIALISM  629 

883.— A  Worker's  Library.— Not  all  the  Socialists 
can  well  afford  to  get  all  the  books  on  Socialism  which 
they  ought  to  read.  The  local  organization  ought  to 
have  a  circulating  library  large  enough  to  cover  the 
field  pretty  thoroughly  and  a  reference  library  where 
the  Socialist  can  get  information  on  all  the  topics  likely 
to  arise  in  his  party  work.  Whenever  possible  get 
these  books  into  the  regular  public  library.  That  is 
where  they  ought  to  be,  and  usually  a  little  effort  can 
get  them  put  there.  Then  your  neighbor  who  is  not  a 
Socialist  may  run  across  Socialism  in  an  unexpected 
place. 

884.— Public  Meetings.— Public  meetings  are  of  two 
kinds.  Those  where  Socialists  and  those  who  are  spe- 
cially interested  in  Socialism  will  meet,  and  those  where 
the  effort  will  be  to  reach  the  general  public  and  ad- 
dress the  people  who  are  not  Socialists.  The  one  should 
be  regular  and  frequent,  the  other  should  be  special, 
and  every  effort  should  be  made  to  make  them  very 
large  and  popular  gatherings.  The  most  difficult  mat- 
ter in  public  meetings  is  in  the  advertising.  The  meet- 
ing must  be  brought  before  the  attention  of  all  the  peo- 
ple over  and  over  again.  Fill  the  local  papers  with  no- 
tices of  the  meeting  and  about  the  speaker.  You  need 
not  be  afraid  of  spoiling  the  speaker  by  talking  about 
his  abilities  in  your  advertising.  The  Socialist  speaker 
will  meet  with  things  enough  to  keep  him  humble.  You 
must  advertise  to  get  the  crowd.  You  must  advertise 
in  a  way  that  will  make  every  person  in  the  neighbor- 
hood feel  that  he  must  come  to  these  special  gatherings 
or  miss  the  rarest  of  opportunities.  I  know  that  there 
are  larger  crowds  at  the  theaters  than  at  Socialist  meet- 
ings. But  the  theater  is  better  advertised.  Beat  the 
theatrical  advertiser  and  you  will  beat  his  crowd. 

Then  remember  the  songs.  A  great  crowd  of  people 
provided  with  Socialist  songs  and  singing  together  will 


630  ORGANIZATION  AND  PROPAGANDA  PART  VI 

be  the  best  possible  preparation  for  the  Socialist's  ad- 
dress. 

Let  every  worker  be  sure  that  the  men,  women  and 
children  on  his  special  list  are  at  these  gatherings,  and 
then  follow  up  the  meetings  with  the  canvass  for  new 
men,  more  papers  and  more  books. 

These  meetings  do  not  need  to  be  held  frequently,  but 
they  do  need  to  be  prepared  for  and  then  followed  up 
with  this  special  work,  or  the  larger  share  of  the  value 
of  the  meeting  will  be  lost. 

>  885.  Classes  for  Study.— You  cannot  work  effect- 
ively for  Socialism  until  you  understand  Socialism. 
You  cannot  make  effective  workers  of  others  unless 
you  make  them  understand  the  subject.  You  can  do 
this  better  by  organizing  a  class  for  study  than  in  any 
other  way.  Get  a  group  of  your  neighbors  together. 
Outline  a  regular  course  of  study.  Take  it  up  faithfully. 
Encourage  those  studying  with  you  to  become  special 
students  of  special  topics.  Send  some  one  of  your  num- 
ber to  a  special  training  school  class  if  possible.  Al- 
ways be  trying  to  learn  more  of  the  subject  and  you 
will  be  teaching  others  by  the  very  effort  you  make  to 
learn. 


CHAPTEE    XLVin 

THE  FINAL  SUMMARY 

A  Comrade's  Greeting.— You  who  have  fol- 
lowed these  pages  thus  far  and  have  understood  the 
arguments  presented  are  now  ahle  to  determine  your 
own  position  as  related  to  this  age-long  warfare.  If 
you  choose  to  take  sides  with  the  oppressed  and  against 
the  oppressors  then  I  greet  you  as  my  Comrades  and 
bid  you  fall  in  line  in  this  most  splendid  battle  for  the 
co-operative  commonwealth.  Humanity  never  set  for 
itself  a  nobler  task  than  ours. 

887.  The  Infancy  of  Our  Race.— You  have  followed 
the  story  of  the  primitive  life  of  the  race.  You  have 
seen  how  in  the  infancy  of  our  race  our  ancestors  fed 
themselves  from  roots  and  fruits  and  nuts  gathered 
from  the  wilds  which  no  man  called  his  own.  From  a 
meaningless  babble  of  unformed  words,  aided  by  ges- 
ture and  grimace,  in  associated  effort,  they  produced 
a  language,  by  associated  effort  they  fought  off  the 
bea^t  of  prey,  and  standing  together,  they  preserved 
the  race  of  man  from  utter  annihilation.  To  nuts  and 
fruits  tney  added  fish  and  built  and  kept  a  common  fire 
from  ^hicL  each  could  carry  living  coals,  and  no  one 
said  "TOis  fire  is  mine/7  They  contrived  and  used 

631 


632  ORGANIZATION  AND  PROPAGANDA  PART  VI 

the  bow  and  arrow  and  no  one  claimed  returns  from 
another's  toil.  Woman's  ingenuity  and  skill  and  toil 
made  and  used  pottery  and  the  simple  tools  of  the 
garden  and  the  field,  but  no  wojnan  said  "This  field  is 
mine." 

888.  Tusks  and  Claws.— In  the  early  youth  of  this 
race  of  ours,  primeval  man,  with  no  'tusks  in  his  mouth, 
no  claws  on  his  hands,  no  hoofs  on  his  heels,  no  horns 
on  his  head  and  no  wings  on  his  back,  acting  by  tribes, 
tamed  and  made  helpers  and  companions  of  those  with 
tusks  and  claws  and  hoofs  and  horns  and  wings,  and 
made  these  creatures  do  his  bidding,  to  bring  him 
food  and  drink,  but  no  one  said  "This  herd  is  mine." 
They  learned  the  nature  and  the  use  of  iron.    They 
gathered  it  from  the  hills  and  they  smelted  it  in  the 
rude  furnace  of  the  hillside,  and  from  it  made  the  tools 
and  weapons  which  made  these  ironworkers  the  mas- 
ters of  the  world,  but  around   the   doorway  of   that 
primeval  furnace  the  cry  of  the    striker   was   never 
heard  and  the  outrage  of  the  lockout  was  never  known, 
for  the  private  owner  was  never  there. 

889.  Primitive    Achievements.— Eice    and   barley, 
wheat  and  corn,  rye  and  oats,  peas,  beans  and  onions; 
gold  and  silver,  iron,  tin,  brass  and  bronze;  the  sickle 
and  the  pruning  knife,  the  distaff,  spindle,  shuttle  and 
the  loom;  the  harp  and  the  shepherd's  pipe,  the  dike, 
bridge  and  irrigation  ditch;  garments  of  cloth,  shoes 
of  leather  and  houses  of  stone;  the  dog,  sheep,  goat, 
hog,  cow  and  horse;  the  wagon  of  four  wheels,  the  bas- 
ket, mill  and  bakery— and  the  "white- winged  ships, 
such  as  come  down  from  the  sea,"  these  were  among 
the  things  man  had  contrived  and  learned  to  use  dur- 
ing the  years  which  modern  scholarship  calls  years  of 
savagery  and  barbarism.    In  all  this  the  private  own- 
ership of  the  means  of  life  was  never  known. 

890.  Civilisation,- After  that  the  Phoenicians  gav$ 


CHAP.  XLVIII  THE  FINAL  SUMMARY  633 

the  world  an  alphabet.  It  was  civilization's  birthday, 
and  it  looked  up  and  smiled  with  a  written  record  in 
its  hand. 

But  the  record  which  has  come  to  us  tells  a  story  of 
rapine  and  wrong  written  in  letters  of  blood  and  fire, 
and  covering  the  age-long  tragedy  of  a  race  betrayed 
and  held  in  helpless  bondage  through  fifty  smoking 
centuries;  for  universal  war  filled  the  world  with  sol- 
diers and  the  ancient  military  masters  of  the  world 
were  simply  slave  drivers  with  a  lash  for  those  who 
were  the  slaves  and  a  battle-axe  for  those  who  dared 
rebel. 

891.  Evolution  of  Capitalism.— You  have  followed 
the  story  of  labor  through  slavery  and  serfdom  and 
into  the  wage  system  and  have  found  the  workers  still 
without  the  legal  right  to  even  life  itself  except  as  the 
servants  of  others. 

You  have  seen  how  inventions  ceased  with  the  com- 
ing of  slavery  and  were  renewed  with  the  return  of 
self-employment  in  the  free  cities  of  Europe  and  on  the 
American  frontier.  You  have  seen  the  development  of 
the  world-market  and  of  the  world- wide  organization 
of  industry  and  commerce.  You  have  seen  how  the 
great  combinations  in  industry  are  working  under  a 
system,  the  success  of  which  depends  on  the  mutual  de- 
struction of  each  other's  enterprises,  and  how  in  the  end 
the  finally  victorious  combination  must  produce  goods 
which  it  cannot  sell,  profits  which  it  cannot  reinvest, 
and  will  hold  in  utter  dependence  upon  itself  a  world 
of  workers  all  of  whom  it  cannot  possibly  employ. 

892.  Evolution  of  Socialism.— You  have  followed 
the  development  in  the  world's  life  of  those  forces 
which  make  for  Collectivism,  Democracy  and  Equality. 
You  have  seen  how  these  great  fundamental  factors  are 
inherent  in  the  very  nature  of  the  race  life  and  how 
the  experience  of  the  race,  the  growth  of  its  religious 


634  ORGANIZATION  AND  PROPAGANDA  PARTY! 

and  political  institutions,  the  advance  of  science,  the 
growth  of  industry,  the  effort  to  realize  in  the  smallest 
degree  any  of  the  advantages  of  mutual  aid  and  the 
ever-growing  sense  of  solidarity,  all  lead  unerringly  to 
the  necessary  final  triumph,  in  the  life  of  man,  of  the 
collective  ownership  of  the  things  collectively  used  and 
with  equal  opportunity  for  all  men  and  women  "to 
have  a  hand  in  the  work"  and  a  "voice  in  the  manage- 
ment ' '  of  the  things  collectively  owned  because  collect- 
ively used.  You  have  seen  that  this  is  the  glad  alter- 
native which  Socialism  offers  for  the  age-long  tragedy 
of  capitalism,  which  in  its  last  act  must  end  in  self-de- 
struction. 

893.  Social    and    Economic    Controversies.— You 
have  examined  the  social  and  economic  controversies 
between  capitalists  and  Socialists.    You  have  seen  the 
capitalists  using  the  public  power  of  all  to  serve  the 
private  interests  of  a  part.    You  have  come  to  under- 
stand how  the  Socialists  are  asking  that  the  public 
power  of  all  shall  be  used  by  all  and  in  behalf  of  all 
and  only  so  far  as  shall  be  consistent  with  the  liberty 
and  welfare  of  all.    You  have  studied  the  contentions 
of  the  economists  in  defense  of  capitalism  and  you  are 
able  to  expose  the  absurdity  of  their  assumptions  and 
to  defend  your  own  position.    You  are  able  to  show 
that  no  form  of  money,  no  theories  of  value,  no  doc- 
trines of  population,  no  defense  of  rent,  interest,  or 
profit  can  possibly  justify  the  existence  of  capitalism. 

894.  Current  Problems.— You  have  seen  how  the 
fine  arts,  religion  and  education  all  suffer  at  the  hands 
of  capitalism.     You  understand  why  both  the  labor 
unionist  and  the  farmer  must  be  Socialists,  and  how 
large  portions  of  the  small  dealers  will  be  brought  to 
the  side  of  the  exploited.    You  have  seen  how  Socialism 
alone  can  offer  any  possible  solution  for  the  problems 
of  the  trust,  municipal  misrule,  corrupt  taxation,  the 


CHAP.  XLVIII  THE  FINAL  SUMMARY  635 

rights  of  woman,  the  race  question,  the  traffic  in  vice, 
or  provide  for  the  care  of  the  helpless  and  the  aged 
without  personal  humiliation  and  without  public  dis- 
grace. 

895.  Organization.— You  understand  the  nature  of 
a  political  party  and  why  the  reorganization  of  Amer- 
ican political  parties  is  necessary  if  the  co-operative 
commonwealth  is  to  be  established.    You  have  thought 
of  the  ways  by  which  you  may  help  to  create  and  make 
triumphant  the  Socialist  party. 

896.  Comrades:     The  dominion  of  property  is  near- 
ing  its  end.    Humanity  shall  no  longer  be  subject  to 
property.    Property  must  become  the  servant  of  hu- 
manity.   The  dominant  passion  of  the  future  will  be 
shown  in  the  struggle  for  the  perfection  of  the  human 
race.    It  is  to  this  high  task  that  the  Socialist  calls  you. 
Get  out  your  pencil.    Make  up  the  list  of  your  neigh- 
bors whom  you  will  try  to  reach.    Enter  at  once  upon 
this  highest  calling.    Whatever  other  tasks  await  you 
make  your  work  for  Socialism  the  real  business  of  your 
daily  life. 


INDEX 


Notes. — 1.    The  numbers  in  this  Index  refer  to  the  sections — not  to  the  pages. 

2.     In  looking  up  any  topics,  use  the  Table  of  Contents  together  with  this  Index,  as 

s  mentioned  in  the  Contents  are  not  repeated  here. 


topics  mentioned  in  the  Contents  are  not  repeated 

3.     In  looking  up  references,  consult  the  foot-notes  under  the  sections  to  which  ref- 
erence is  made. 

Chap.  XXXIX;  261-62;  862-63. 


Abbott.    261 ;  420  ;  770. 

Adams.  40  ;  96  ;  141 ;  162  ;  173  ;  177  ;  183  ; 
222 ;  372 ;  385  ;  514 ;  564. 

Adams,  John.     650 ;  810. 

Adams,  John  Quincy.    811. 

Adams,  Samuel.    649  ;  809. 

Africa.     77;  84;  654;  661. 

Age,  Of  the  world.     23 ;  58. 

American  Labor  Union.    663. 

Anarchists.     367  ;  568 ;  867. 

Angelo.    459. 

Animals,  And  Men.  Chap.  II ;  30  ;  31 ;  35  ; 
37 ;  41 ;  cattle  thieves  and  soldiers,  53 ; 
co-operative,  193 ;  in  use  under  barbarism, 
48;  mounted  men,  116;  music  of,  503; 
struggle  for  existence,  446 ;  455 ;  tam- 
ing of,  46. 

Architecture.     504. 

Argyll.     394. 

Aristotle.     286. 

Arts,  The  Fine.     343 ;  Chap.  XXIX. 

•  Augustine.     304;  519. 

Australia.     574. 

Avebury.     23. 

Bacon.     304. 

Bain.    556. 

Baker.     154. 

Baldwin.     206. 

Bankers.     163;  319-20;  442-45;  595. 

Bankruptcy,  Consolidation  or.^i^j-jnevita- 

BarbaflBjj|Bconomics  and.  392-5  ;  426-9  ; 
PQ^I  ••^Chap.  Ill ;  place  in  the  race 
Hi8MV213-14;  238;  328-31;  453;  501; 
516;^fr-43;  773;  781-84;  800-803;  887- 
889;  slavery  and,  63-85;  serfdom  and, 
9,1-94;  104;  105;  war  and,  185;  355; 
75o-58  ;  805. 

Basanquet.     735. 

Base-Ball.     773.   ' 

Bastlle.    648. 

Beard.     794. 

Beginnings,  Of  Social  Institutions.     13 ;  25- 

Bellamy.  '  304  ;  308  ;  519 

Bemis.     629. 

Besant.     454. 

Bible.     53  ;  73  ;  229  ;  501 ;  519. 

Bishop  Hill.     316. 

Bismarck.     703. 

Blackstone.     245. 

Blank  Book.     873. 

Blanqui.     78;  141;  305. 

Blissard.     491. 

Blood-Current,  The.     337. 

Boers.     203. 

Books,     1 ;  56. 


Boss  Rule. 
Brace.    90. 
Bright.     607. 
Brinton.     59. 
Brooks.     198 : 
Brotherhood. 


701;  752. 
Beginning,  58. 

Brotherhood  of  Railway  Employes,  663. 

Buckle.     115. 

Burke.     821. 

Burns.     519. 

Butler.     558;  559. 

Caesar.     501. 

Cannibalism.     532;  781. 

Carlyle.     343  ;  385  ;  519  ;  648. 

Carnegie.     184. 

Carpenter.    800. 

Caucus.     649. 

Censorship.     852. 

Chinese  Labor.     167  ;  654  ;  661 ;  Chap.  XLI. 

Charity.     Chap.  XLIII. 

Church,  The.  217;  Chap.  XVI;  333;  343; 
540;  556-57,  and  charity,  784-89. 

City,  The.  Beginning  of,  66  ;  67  ;  109 ;  114  ; 
120;  124;  free  cities,  118;  213;  642; 
647  ;  653-54  ;  misrule,  Chap.  XXXVI ;  rev- 
enue, under  Socialist  control,  696-700. 

Civil  Service.     Chap.  XXXIX. 

Civilization,  Art  and.  516 ;  beginning  of, 
Chap.  IV ;  loss  of  fraternity,  799-803 ;  not 
invented,  29 ;  place  in  race  life,  26 ;  roots 
of,  31 ;  32  ;  summary,  890. 

Clark.     154;  195;  419;  495. 

Class  Conscious.  146-49;  197;  221;  335; 
353-54. 

Classes  for  Study.     885. 

Class  Struggle,  The.  Beginning  of,  51 ;  59 ; 
continuance  of,  under  slavery,  Chap.  VI ; 
under  serfdom,  Chap.  VII;  under  wage 
system,  Chap.  VIII ;  end  or,  185  ;  372-80 ; 
498;  519;  6(35;  640;  663-71 ;  684  ;  710; 
democracy  and,  216 ;  262-63 ;  265 ;  irre- 
pressible, Chap.  XI;  XXI;  835-40;  868; 
machines  and,  Chap.  IX ;  167-74 ;  246 ; 
259;  284;  261-62;  294-300;  320-26; 
342-44;  597;  middle  class  and,  Chap. 
XXXIII ;  568  ;  principles  in,  190-93  ;  251 ; 
C50 ;  835. 

Clay.     812. 

Clodd.     523  ;  524  ;  526  ;  527. 

Clothing.    Means  of  life,  1 ;  8 ;  30^ 

Cobden.     607. 

Collectivism.  1;  primitive,  56-61;  All  of 
Part  III. 

Commerce.  Art  and,  511 ;  beginning  of,  57 ; 
109;  111-114;  103-125;  153;  166;  ex- 
tension of,  332;  334;  final  monopoly, 
638;  science  and,  274;  541;  suicide  of, 
180, 


INDEX. 


637 


Communism.     Primitive,  Chap.  IV  ;  73  ;  93  ; 

304;  Socialism  and,  303;  701. 
Competition.     Chaps.    IX    and    X ;    end    of, 

183;   189;  320-21;   Chap.   XXII;   398-99; 

638-40 ;  ruin  of  competitors,,  568. 
Conscience.     485. 
Conscious  Selection.     248;   280-85;  342-44; 

515-16;  541-42;  566;  896. 
Consolidation.     See    trust ;    inevitable,    154- 

156;  175;  Chap.  XXII. 
Conversation.     878. 
Co-operation.     Primitive,  Chap.  IV;  colonies 

and    societies,    Chap.     XIX;    in    nature, 

Chaps.  XIII  and  XIV  ;  machines  and,  152  ; 

Chap.  XVIII. 
Corporation,   The.      City   misrule  and,   676- 

688  ;  collapse  of,  182-89  ;  320  ;  342  ;  Chap. 

XXII  ;  evolution  of,  151 ;  287-293  ;  public 

function  of,  324. 
Courts.     Enmity  of,  315. 
Crafts.     667. 
Creighton.     566. 
Crime.     279. 
Croll.     23. 

Cromwell.     127;  349;  607. 
Crozier.     141;  279;  326. 
Cunningham.     32  ;  111 ;  118  ;  161 ;  491. 
Cuba.     654. 
Daniels.     693. 

Darwin.     14  ;  37  ;  198  ;  446  ;  500  ;  800. 
Davidson.     377. 
Day,  Short.     Possible,  2;  659. 
Debts.     In  slavery  for,   82-4 ;   public  inter- 
ference, 400 ;  none  under  Socialism,  445. 
Dement.     483. 
Democracy.     Education  and,   Chap.   XXXI ; 

evils    of,    721-26;    fall    of,    71-73;    Chap. 

XIII ;    XIV ;    XVI ;    industrial,    147-195  ; 

277;  294;   300;   326;  375-80;  424;  605; 

640  ;  710  ;  738  ;  771 ;   Socialism  and,  12  ; 

war  and,  50 ;  62. 
Democratic  party.     671 ;  673  ;  677  ;  680-88  ; 

753;  812-22. 
De  Tocqueville.     721. 
Dickens.     519. 
Discipline.     104;  712-26. 
Divine  Right  of  Kings.     109 ;  265-273. 
Dos  Passes.    376  ;  629. 
Douglass.     816. 
Doyle.     82. 
Drugs.     765-80. 
Druids.     501. 
Drummond.     20;  519. 
Earth,    The.      Chap.    XV ;    and    man,    331 ; 

461-69;  beauty  of,  512. 
Economic  Determinism.     Chap.  II  and  III ; 

complex  causes,  63 ;  economic  man,   383- 

85;  485;  illustrated;  59;  62;  Chaps.  VI- 

X;    XVII;    350;    621-23;    728;    835-39; 

limitations,     36-38;     385-88;     398;     race 

hatred  and,  750-763. 
Economists.      125;    Chap.    XXIV;   405-413; 

482 ;  gloomiest  page  of,  385 ;  452. 
Edison.     459. 
Education.     Chap.  XXXI ;  negroes  and,  744  ; 

753-54 ;  schools  and  unions,  657 ;  support 

of,  84 ;  the  teacher,  541. 
Election  Laws.     823-27  ;  843-44. 
Eliot.     486  ;  507  ;  558  ;  561 ;  565. 
Elizabeth.     788-89. 
Ely.     124;  191;  400;  477;  479;  483;  485; 

490;  492;  676;  794. 
Emerson.     133;  187. 
Engels.     40;  59;  76;  120;  141;  167;  177; 

187  ;  275  ;  376  ;  492  ;  613  ;  616  ;  620. 
Equal  Income.     857. 
Equality.     10  ;  62  ;  Chaps.  XIII ;  XIV  ;  284  ; 

342;  351-56;  364-65;  379;  400;  417-24; 

445;  464-70. 
Evolution.      Explained,   13-25 ;   the  struggle 

for  existence,  14 ;  the  struggle  by  groups, 


15  ;  the  argument, — the  embryo,  19 ;  rudi- 
mentary, 16  ;  20  ;  records,  21 ;  time,  22 ; 
astronomers,  23  ;  conclusions,  24  ;  62-64  ; 
of  capitalism,  Part  II ;  limits  of,  462 ; 
summary,  891 ;  of  Socialism,  Part  III ; 
summary,  892  ;  industrial  government  and, 
294-301 ;  the  state  and,  367-370. 

Exchange.     403-19;  Chap.  XXVI. 

Expansion.     Barbarian,  50  ;  Roman,  88 ;  un- 
der serfdom,  Chap.  VII ;  under  the  wage 
system,  106  ;  108-126  ;  136-144  ;  183  ;  290  • 
Chap.   X;   321-26;   334;   361;   371;   418 
635-40 ;  662-70  ;  race  problem  and,  758-61. 

Exploitation.  Extent  of,  179 ;  indemnifica- 
tion for,  486  ;  justifying,  415  ;  methods  of, 
Chap.  XXVIII;  185;  198;  417-24;  618; 
of  dependent  races,  748-62 ;  origin  of, 
51-54  ;  who  are  victims,  593-98  ;  618  ;  the 
way  out,  498. 

Factory  System.  Beginning  of,  113-128 ; 
consolidation  and,  156-57;  factory  laws, 
400  ;  in  New  England,  84  ;  machinery  and, 
Chaps.  IX ;  XVII ;  the  farm  and,  580-87  ; 
594  ;  the  school  and,  565-573. 

False  Issues.    679. 

Falsifying  Text  Books.     564. 

Family.  Earliest,  27  ;  28  ;  41 ;  42  ;  advance, 
43  ;  monogamic  beginnings,  45 ;  polygamy, 
46  ;  woman  and  early  industry,  42-54 ;  her 
subjection,  55 ;  her  distress,  465 ;  486 ; 
Chap.  XL ;  marriage  forbidden,  458 ;  fam- 
ily of  farmer,  603;  of  nations,  637;  So- 
cialism and,  866. 

Famine.     463. 

Farm,  The,  and  Farming.    449 ;  614. 

Farmer.     Chap.  XXXII ;  607  ;  876. 

Federalist  Party.    809-11. 

Ferri.  31 ;  279  ;  324  ;  363  ;  365  ;  367  ;  455 ; 
662. 

Ferris.     286. 

Feudalism.     See  Serfdom. 

Fetishism.     526-32. 

Fish  Story— Walker's.     392. 

Fishing  Banks,  Co-operative.     293. 

Fiske.  16  ;  23  ;  32  ;  35  ;  64  ;  85  ;  195  ;  196  ; 
197  ;  224  ;  273  ;  354. 

Flag.     172  ;  Her  Majesty's,  377. 

Flint  and  Hill.     342  ;  355. 

Food.  1 ;  8  ;  30 ;  32  ;  roots,  nuts  and  fruits, 
41 ;  fish,  42  ;  game,  44  ;  cereals,  46  ;  prim- 
itive products,  48;  limit  of,  448-70; 
495-98.  > 

Franchise.      Elective,   9 ;    55-58 
650  ;  732-39  ;  745-63  ;  826.      •*•—>%'-! 

Franklin.    405  ;  649. 

Fraternities.     113;  219;  343;  7! 
800. 

Freeman.    91. 

Fuel.     Means  of  life,  1 ;  8 ;  32. 

Fusion.     837-41. 

Games  of  Chance.     Chap.  XLII. 

Geikie.     23. 

George.     405  ;  478  ;  480. 

Gibbins.     57  ;  63  ;  90  ;  178  ;  184. 

Gibbon.     88. 

Giddings.     196;  542. 

Gide.     407. 

Gladstone.    607. 

Glasgow.     709. 

Godkin.     509. 

Goodwin.     85. 

Government.  27 ;  28 ;  in  savagery  and  bar- 
barism, 41 ;  the  gens,  44  ;  the  phratry,  45  ; 
the  tribe,  46 ;  based  on  force,  51 ;  con- 
quest, 53 ;  fall  of,  as  based  on  kinship, 
51-61 ;  62  ;  66  ;  67  ;  control,  626-28  ;  in- 
dustrial, 295-301 ;  375-380 ;  729 ;  just 
powers  of,  207 :  Chap.  XXIII ;  owner- 
ship, Chap.  XXXVIII. 

Greeley.     722. 

Greene.     89;  90;  117;  120;  647. 


638 


INDEX. 


Guilds.     113 ;  218  ;  643-45  ;  653. 
Gumplowicz.     17;  57;  65;  620. 

Had?eUy.  ll1;  !«H ;  808 ;  407  ;  411 ;  539 ;  561 ; 
629 ;  632  ;  635  ;  706. 

Haeckel.     22. 

Hall.     561 ;  572. 

Hamilton.     34;  459;  810. 

Hancock.     809. 

Hanna,  Senator.     176. 

Harper.     561. 

Harris.     558;  561. 

Hartford  Convention.     811. 

Hegel.     34. 

Helpless.     Chap.  XLIII ;  858. 

Henderson.     341 ;  368  ;  372  ;  379  ;  380  ;  789. 

Henry  VIII.     787-88. 

Henry,  Patrick.     809. 

Heresy.     846-56. 

Hertzka.     308. 

Hillis.     566. 

Hillquit.     191. 

Hoar.     480. 

Hobson.  140  ;  141 ;  153  ;  343  ;  377  ;  638. 

Homer.     48;  501. 

Homes.  1 ;  46 ;  48 ;  serf's,  89 ;  and  art, 
511 ;  and  the  school,  565-73. 

Hooker.     256. 

Horse  Race.     773. 

Hospitals.     790. 

Howell.     643  ;  645  ;  652. 

Hugo.     519. 

Hyndman.     327. 

Ideals.    Higher.    35  ;  36  ;  no  denial  of,  38. 

Idleness,  Enforced.     167-72  ;  184  ;  588  ;  717. 

Ihering.     46;  50. 

Illiteracy.     565-73;  753-55;  770. 

Imperialism.     Chaps.  X;  XXXIV. 

Incentive.     279  ;  341 ;  398  ;  723-26  ;  861. 

Indemnification.     485-87. 

Indians,  American.  Without  slaves,  76 ; 
Pueblos,  362 ;  Poetry  of,  501. 

Independents.     673. 

Individual,  The.  147  ;  151 ;  278  ;  emancipa- 
tion of  289  ;  329-32  ;  340-41  ;  379-381  ;  not 
considered  in  study  of  social  causes,  190- 
91. 

Industrial  Organization.     294-300  ;  663-71. 

Industrial  Revolution.  Chap.  IX;  Chap. 
XVIII;  650-52. 

Industry.  Power  of  modern,  2  ;  earliest,  42  ; 
44;  arts  and,  500;  514-19;  inventions 
and,  Chaps.  IX ;  X ;  modern,  beginning 
of,  109-128;  solidarity  and,  146-50;  294- 
300  ;  335  ;  340. 

Ingram.     74;  342;  360;  534;  535. 

Instinct.     30;  264;  521-22. 

Interest.     125;  Chap.  XXVIII. 

Inventions.  Primitive,  41 ;  use  of  fire,  42 ; 
bow  and  arrow,  43 ;  pottery,  45 ;  use  of 
animals,  46  ;  smelting  iron,  47  ;  primitive 
achievements,  48 ;  56 ;  57 ;  cause  of,  138- 
140;  274;  Effects  of,  59;  61;  Chap.  X; 
320;  era  of,  Chap.  IX;  Chap.  XVIII;  so- 
cial forces  and,  190;  191 ;  541. 

Irrigation.     48;  462;  602. 

Jackson.    257 ;  812. 

Jamestown.     564. 

Jefferson.     257;  810-12. 

Jenks.     155;  630;  676. 

Jesus.     216. 

Jevons.     405;  408;  412-13. 

Jews.     73 ;  536. 

John  of  Patmos.    519. 

Jones.     3 ;  187. 

Juglar.     187. 

Jury.     202. 

Kansas.     832. 

Kansas  Twine  Factory.     702. 

Kautsky.     183;   324;   374. 


Kaweah  Colony.     318. 

Kidd.     184  ;  355  ;  495. 

Kirkup.     191;  405. 

Knox.     810. 

Kropotkin.     93;  194;  198. 

Labor.  Beginning  of  slavery,  51-55;  child 
labor,  565-72;  594;  Chinese,  168;  com- 
modity, 397  ;  dependence  of,  1  ;  2  ;  3  ;  4  ; 
5:6;  displacement  of,  145  ;  drudgery  of, 
286-89  ;  duty  of,  10  ;  first  division  of,  42  ; 
idleness  enforced,  184  ;  602  ;  land  and, 
447-455  ;  471-78  ;  Lincoln  on,  258  ;  power 
to  buy,  179  ;  primitive  labor  of  women, 
45  ;  47  ;  49  ;  55  ;  self  employed,  574-606  ; 
serfdom  and,  Chap.  VII  ;  slavery  and, 
Chap.  VI  ;  wage  system  and,  Chap.  VIII  ; 
187;  Value  of.  412. 

Land.  Collective,  8  ;  10  ;  cultivation  of,  447- 
451  ;  department,  296  ;  free  use,  11  ;  ine- 
quality and,  5  ;  inherited,  7  ;  loss  of,  94  ; 
102  ;  monopoly  of,  3  ;  30  ;  131  ;  Mosaic- 
system,  73;  rent  of,  471-98;  serfs  inter- 
est in,  88  ;  91  ;  92  ;  93  ;  96  ;  struggle  for, 

105:  784:  western-  84; 


Language.     Development,  56. 

Lane.     206  ;  728  ;  771  ;  806. 

Lassalle.     368. 

Lasson.     370. 

Laughlin.     400;  454. 

Laveleye.     458. 

Law.     Authority  of,  245-47  ;  does  not  create, 

190-91  ;     272  ;     428  ;     of     life,     267-273  ; 
o4T-4^2. 

Lefevre.     187. 
Leisure.     Loss  of,   507-513;   means   of   life, 

1  ;  ample,  2  ;  363. 
Letting  things  alone.     400. 
Liebknecht.     11;  67;   191;  335;  620;  836; 

841;  855. 

Lincoln.     257-58  ;  459  ;  564  ;  816. 
Lincoln,  Levi.     650. 
Lilly.     485;  796. 
Literature.      Life  and,   339;    343;   500-504; 

means  of  life,  1  ;  51  ;  means  of  warfare, 

122  ;  882. 

Locke.     373  ;  376  ;  405. 
Loria.     96;  247. 
Lunt.     385. 
Luther.     127. 
Lyell.     23. 
Macaulay.     106. 
Machinists'  Union.     663. 
Mackenzie.     379;  566. 
Macleod.     405. 
Macrosty.     141;  179. 
Madison.     650. 
Maine.     50  ;  93  ;  805. 
Malthus.     382. 
Management,  Democratic.     9  ;   12  ;  56  ;  58  : 

199-204  ;  213-226  ;  299-300  ;  355  ;  375-380  ; 

424;   470;   498;    552;    572;   604-5;   623; 

664;  670;  683-88;   710;   721-26. 
Manager,  The.     Hired,  293  ;  424  ;  568  ;  man- 

aging producer,  474  ;  491-98  ;  587. 
Manifesto,    Communist.       141  ;    167  ;    177  ; 

275  ;  303  ;  376  ;  829-30. 
Manufacturers'  Association.    6;  621. 
Market.     28;   114;   140;   Art  and,   514-17; 

education    and,    559-563  ;    gambling    and. 

Chap.     XLII;     world,     153-174;     177-78; 

287-290;  349. 
Marriage.      Across   race    lines,    746  ;    depen- 

dence,   730-38;   forbidden,   454-59;   primi- 

tive,   42-55  ;    in    serfdom,    90  ;    Socialism 

and,  866. 
Marshall.     15  ;   156  ;   383  ;  387  ;   408  ;  449  ; 

451  ;  453  ;  458  ;  770. 
Marshall,  Chief  Justice.     650. 


INDEX. 


5tt4uV»  Vs  *?:  38;  119;  139;  141;  143; 
l4v  J7*  »  i»V\  ;  307  ;  327  ;  376  ;  404-405  ; 
5'f4Aj  ;  613  ;  v\16  ;  620  ;  834. 

Mason.'    30  ;  42  ;  45. 

Massart.     293;  4&6. 

Mastery  and  Servitude.  Both  as  serfs  and 
slaves,  97-101 ;  caused  by  war,  51 ;  65 ; 
end  of,  633 ;  inherited,  7  ;  33  ;  in  schools, 
562-66;  race  war..  Chap.  XLI;  religion 
and,  535  ;  543  ;  544-551 ;  science  and,  265- 
273 ;  tyranny,  4  ;  wage  system,  103 ;  117- 
120  ;  124-29  ;  620  ;  'J33. 

May.     658. 

Mayo-Smith.     224. 

McMaster.     577. 

Means  of  Life.  Achievements  of  primitive 
man,  56;  57;  132;  dependence  for,  117- 
18  ;  262  ;  freedom  to  province,  8  ;  monopoly 
of,  3 ;  named,  1 ;  serfdom  and,  91 ;  slavery 
and,  65 ;  sources  of,  2 ;  struggle  for,  32 ; 

Medicine.    541. 

Melville.     31. 

Middle  Class,  The.  Beginning  of,  121-9; 
place  of,  347;  Chap.  XX&HI ;  farmers 
and,  592-6. 

Military  Organization.  66-68;  116-17;  635- 
640;  democratic,  203;  hostttj,  318;  mar- 
ket and,  170-73  ;  662. 

Mill.  124  ;  382  ;  394  ;  399  ;  400  ;  *05  ;  454  ; 
496. 

Millet.     519. 

Money.  28 ;  Chap.  XXVI ;  in  international 
trade,  163  ;  169 ;  in  politics,  672 ;  700. 

Monopoly.  Art  and,  510-519 ;  capitalism 
and,  11 ;  12  ;  278  ;  398  ;  400  ;  end  of,  247  ; 
365  ;  in  contrast,  Chaps.  XIII,  XIV ;  222- 
226;  228 — whole  chapter;  law  of,  154 — 
whole  chapter ;  means  of  production,  3 ; 
102-104;  120;  populists  and,  259;  pro- 
voking evil,  802 ;  solidarity  and,  342  2 
value  and,  418-425. 

Monroe.     650. 

Morgan.  26  ;  27  ;  29  :  31 ;  40 ;  44  ;  49  ;  51 ; 
55;  57;  58;  59;  63;  75;  300;  379;  393; 
532. 

More.     304;  519. 

Morris.     115;  519. 

Moses.     459. 

Moyer.     488. 

Mortgages.  259. 

Music.     1 ;  500-501 ;  504. 

Napoleon.     203;  648. 


421 ;  subject  of  tyranny,  4 ;  study  of,  13. 

Nebular  Hypothesis.     231-234. 

Negroes.  Current  problem,  Chap.  XLI ; 
northern  slave  traders,  83  ;  84  ;  not  orig- 
inally slaves,  77 ;  set  to  work  with  white 
slaves,  82. 

Nettleton.     154  ;  162. 

O'Hare.     293. 

Oklahoma.     582. 

Organization.     880. 

Osborne.     187. 

Ownership,  Collective.  Among  Indians,  76 ; 
in  savagery  and  barbarism,  44  ;  45  ;  46 ; 
end  of,  51 ;  54-6 ;  labor  and,  419 ;  land, 
tools,  etc.,  jfr;  O^  Wi'vari;  of  the  earth, 
v'Chap.  XV;  \588-301  ;^6f  trusts,  626;  631; 
public,  373-380;  Chap.  XXXVIII;  717; 
serfdom  and,  93 ;  Socialism  and,  12 ;  192 ; 
342  ;  Chaps.  IX,  X,  XIII,  XIV,  and  XVIII. 

Ownership,  Private.  vMeans  of  life,  2  ;  tyran- 
ny of,  4 ;  inequality  and,  5  j^just,  11 ; 
capitalism  and,  12  ,v/  beginning  of,  in 
productive  property,  51-60;  63-68;  88; 
91-93;  130;  ChapTXV ;  291-9;  320;  342; 
344 ;  391-5  ;  of  simple  tools,  576-581. 


Painter.     557. 

Painting.     504. 

Parker.     561. 

Patents.     320;  480. 

Patten.     47;  473;  510. 

Paulsen.     10 ;  458. 

Payments,  Deferred.     438-444. 

Paying  Dues.     869  ;  881. 

Petty.    405. 

Philippines.     654  ;  661. 

Pictures.     1 ;  Utopian,  302. 

Plato.     519. 

Poets  and  Prophets.     302 ;  339. 

Political  Parties.  610-624;  Chaps.  XLIV; 
XLV. 

Politics.  Corrupt,  672-688  ;  881 ;  economics 
and,  625-41;  835;  labor  in,  665-671; 
meaning  of,  67;  political  power  denied, 
94 ;  races  and,  753  ;  woman  in,  737  ;  work- 
ers and,  258 ;  340. 

Poor  House.     791. 

Polytheism.     527-541. 

Populists.     259;  832-841. 

Population,  Theories  of.     Chap.  XXVIL 

Poverty.     Of  the  many,  7,  11,  12;  End  of, 
36;    118;    genius    of    the   poor;    459;    in 
schools,   560-572;    religion   and,    544-555; 
shame  of,  498 ;  563 ;  Chap.  XLIII. 
romltive    Soclety-      Importance    of,    26-29; 
iSb ;  man  not  helpless,  30 ;  roots  of  civi- 
mZaary°  887-89  S°lldarlty  of>  328-331;  sum- 
Product's.     Division  of,  10 ;  287 ;  401 :'  423- 
25;  471-498;  650-660;  858-860. 

Profit  47l£498;   anti-social,  513;   vice  and, 

Prohibition.     776. 

Promotions.     719-725. 

Public,  The.     322-326. 

Public  Loans.     600. 

Publicity.     626-27. 

Public  Meetings.    884. 

Purchasable  Voters.     678-688. 

Race  Hatred.     Chap.  XLI. 

Rae.     191. 

Ravenstein.    451. 

Reason.     264;  273;  521-55. 

Referendum.     819-20. 

Religion.     333  ;  Chap.  XXX  ;  864. 

Rent.     392-93  ;  Chap.  XXVIII ;  704. 

Renters.     592-97. 

Republican  Party.     671 ;  673  ;  677  ;  680-88 ; 

753;  812-22. 
Rhodes.     186 ;  377. 
Ricardo.    382 ;  405. 
Rich.     103. 
Ritchie.     405. 

Romsi  sli!  &'&;,& 145 :  U9 : 372 : 

Romanes.     20. 

Roscher.     65. 

Rothschild.     271. 

Ruskin.     103  ;  111 ;  509  ;  519 

Ruskin  Colony.     317. 

Sanitary,  The.     92  ;  224-25  ;  278. 

Savagery.  Place  in  race  life,  26 ;  period  of. 
Chap.  IV. 

Saloon,  The.     777. 

Scarcity.     409. 

Schaeffle.    307. 

Science.  Chaps.  II ;  III ;  230-244 ;  Chap. 
XVII ;  305  ;  "dismal,"  385  ;  limitations  in. 
385-88 ;  solidarity  and,  336-38 ;  541. 

Sculpture.     504. 

Self-employed.  In  fifteenth  century,  93 ;  in- 
ventions and,  134-139  ;  end  of,  93-95  ;  258  ; 
574-91 ;  for  all,  712-26. 

Seligman.     36  ;  38  ;  59  ;  161 ;  540  ;  543. 

Serfdom.  Chap.  VII;  102;  782-83;  fall  of, 
102-120;  189;  642-45;  benevolent  feudal- 
ism, 186 ;  on  the  Hudson,  578. 


640 


INDEX. 


Shakespeai'e.     450. 

Shaler.     232;  234;  235;  242. 

Single  Tax.     477-88. 

Slavery-  28  ;  Bristol  market,  90  ;  causes  of, 
51-60;  189;  Chap.  VI;  charity  and,  782- 
85  ;  "coming,"  712-26  ;  inventions  and, 
133  ;  serfdom  and,  Chap.  VII  ;  187  ;  slave 


propagation,  88  ;  Northwest  and,  578  ;  re- 
ligion and,  53 
102;  125-130. 


ion  and,  535-37  ;  541  ;  wage  system  and, 


Small.     507. 

Smith,  Adam.  85;  91;  109;  111;  112; 
376;  382;  405;  495. 

Social  Compact.     125  ;  269-273. 

Socialist  Party.     671  ;  Chap.  XLV. 

Solidarity.  Loss  of.  146-149;  growth  of, 
Chap.  XX. 

Supply  and  Demand.    416. 

Spaulding.     542. 

Spencer.     37;  712. 

Spy.     724. 

Standard  Oil.  419. 

Stead.     187  ;  693. 

Store-Houses.  Monopoly  of,  3  ;  5  ;  collec- 
tive, 10  ;  445  ;  filled,  363. 

Story.     165. 

Strikes,  Under  the  Trust.  167-70  ;  weapon 
of  war,  650. 

Suffrage,  Eaual.     Chap.  XL. 

Surplus  Products.     176. 

Tactics.    840-56. 

Tarriff.  The  constitution  and,  809;  me- 
diaeval, 112  ;  under  the  trust,  168  ;  626-30. 

Taxation.    Chap.  XXXVI,  and  XXXVII. 

Tax  Dodgers.    675  ;  683  ;  686  ;  693  ;  700. 

Taylor.     64  ;  93. 

Theft.    51  ;  419  ;  486. 

Thorpe.     84;  650. 

Thrift.     391-94  ;  489. 

Tools.  Collective,  10;  growth  of,  133-148; 
150-51;  274-77;  286;  581;  inequality 
and,  5  ;  free  use,  11  ;  295  ;  422  ;  inherited, 
7  ;  monopoly  of,  3  ;  117  ;  130-31  ;  574- 
590  ;  schools  and,  Chap.  XXXI  ;  share  in 
production,  414  ;  tyranny  and,  4  ;  419  ; 
424,  496-98;  effects  of,  Chaps.  IX  and 

Tolstoi.  504. 
Toynbe.  383. 
Trade  Unions.  Ancient,  216;  modern,  220- 

21;   Chap.   XXXV;   economist   and,   385; 

democratic,  220  ;  industrial,  294-301  ;  race 

war  and,  752. 
Transportation.      Collective,    10  ;    296-301  ; 

584  ;  means  of  life,  1  ;  monopoly  of,  £  ;  5  ; 

169;  599;  public  ownership  and,  70X-711. 
Travel.     512. 
Trust,  The.     Chaps.  X;  XI;  XYXVf)  443; 

Turners'  S<X>*cties.     650 
Tyler,  Wat     $47. 


Tylor.     26. 

Tyranny.     Legal  owners  and,  4  ;  Capitalism 
and,  12 ;  63  ;  119  ;  120  ;   124  ;   129  ;  342  - 
365;  377;  378;  497;  620;  662;  7^')4> 
762;  862.  * 

Utility.     407-8  ;  marginal,  413. 

Uhlhorn.     786. 

Utopian  and  Scientific.     300-327. 

Value,  Theories  of.     Chap.  XXV ;  433-436. 

Village  Communities.     94  ;  214. 

Vice.  Under  slavery,  78;  under  serfdom, 
97 ;  under  wage  system,  102 ;  traffic  in 
Chap.  XLII. 

Vincent.     507. 

Vandervelde.     293;  486. 

Von  Hoist.    269. 

Wage  System.    Chap.  VIII ;  644  ;  671. 

Wages.  Iron  law  6f,  120;  400;  598;  Chan. 
VIII ;  tarriff  and,  168  ;  704. 

Wagner.     519. 

Walker.  308  ;  383T  391-93  ;  397-99 ;  447  • 
452  ;  455  ;  482  ;  485-86  ;  489  ;  493. 

Wallace.     19. 

Wai  Us.     67. 

Ward.  19;  31;  64;  85;  248;  264;  269- 
278  ;  341 ;  354  ;  399  ;  496  ;  503  ;  518  ;  563  '; 

ooT. 

Ward,  J.  Osborne.     216  ;  219  ;  784. 

War.  American  Civil,  81 ;  575  ;  650 ;  753  : 
f  o6'1^82^  83°-1 ;  American  revolution 
82;  b49;  808;  cause  of  primitive,  50' 
class  war,  348-49 ;  730 ;  commercial,  173 
320-21;  332;  360;  for  plunder,  53;  67 
104-108;  130;  395;  635-36;  gods  and 
534-37;  gunpowder  and,  115-117;  means 
of  escaping,  805 ;  Mexican,  813 ;  organi- 
zation for,  134;  139;  817-18;  second  with 
England,  203;  753;  811;  821;  slavery 
and,  51-60;  Survivals  of,  773;  war  of 
ballots,  731 ;  805-856 ;  872. 

Washington.     810. 

Waste.     659-60. 

Webb.     222;  323;  352;  487;  650. 

Wells.     139;  286;  629. 

Webster.     459;  650.    ' 

Westermark.     41. 

Western  Federation  of  Miners.     663. 

Whigs.    808 ;  815. 

Wilson.     379;  650. 

Woman.  Primitive,  28  ;  41 ;  43  ;  45  ;  55 ; 
56 ;  under  slavery,  55  ;  78  ;  under  serfdom, 
89-91 ;  under  wage  system,  144;  278-79; 
284;  446-70;  603;  771;  794-95;  866; 
vital  relations,  336-7  ;  341 ;  500-504  ;  pres- 
ent status  of,  Cha^  XL. 

Woolsey.     806. 

Worship.     See  Religion. 

Wright.     667  ;  770. 

Xenophon.     203. 

Your  Country.     172-73  ;  874-80. 

Zola.     519. 


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